Duty of the Red Hood
by peekodemeeko12
Summary: A crossover of Hellsing, 'An odd gathering, a new chance' fic and Red Riding Hood. A simple duty for the Red Hood; never stray from the path and never tamper with the town's tribute to the witch. Unfortunately or fortunately, Jackie has done both. Rated M for darker themes, language and some sexual content. Co-written by chaos-dark-lord. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

The duty of the Red Hood was to transport goods from the various nearby villages to the witch.

Jackie sucked in a deep breath, enjoying the brisk morning air and the freedom of being outside the stuffy village. It truly felt wonderful being outside in the open without the pointed stares of the villagers. Red as the scarlet of roses her reddened hood flowed behind her, offering her warmth from the chilly air. Winter will be setting in sometime soon; the trees were changing colors and dead leaves covered the ground. The basket weighed light in her hands as she trotted forward, taking the same path she always did before something unusual caught her eye.

Her dual colored eyes widened in startlement, seeing large and undeniable footprints of a giant embedded into the ground. However old or fresh she could not tell but the track was definitely not there a few days ago on her last trip.

The footprints were enormous, clearly not human, perhaps it was an ogre, and up ahead where the footprints led she could see broken trees and a mudslide blocking the road; perhaps caused by the creature who made those imprints. A shudder shook her supple frame. The creature might be up the main road but lucky for her, she knew of a small side road not that far away.

She weighed her options, looking between the two paths before deciding to get off the main road. In a fight or flight situation Jackie preferred to take flight especially when faced with a giant, human eating monster. She let out an annoyed huff at being forced to take this detour before she proceeded with caution, making sure to avoid stepping on the dead leaves which would leave an unsavory crunch.

Her boots tread lightly across the ground as she continued forward, focusing her attention more so on not making a noise rather than the environment. Breathes came in softly and legs trotted swiftly as she did her best not to make a sound. Sending a young woman out like this to the witch's house was, in all honesty, ridiculous. She felt some resentment for being forced out of her home to do such a thing but it was the only place where she could truly be free if even for a small while.

Jacqueline stopped short in the middle of the road, seeing a man in a forest green trench coat laying facedown against the dirt road. Her eyes widened, breath stopping as she slowly listened and looked around in an attempt to see if she could hear anything. Ogres, or the more likely trolls, had been known to leave bodies laying around to attract more humans closer before attacking and having a quick snack. The hold of her dagger weighed heavy in her hand as she slid it from its sheath on her upper thigh and approached quietly and cautiously; not that she truly knew how to use it but it comforted her to know she had some sort of defense for herself.

" … hey." Jackie softly called out, drawing closer while remaining acutely aware of the sounds around her. Due to her blind left eye she overcompensated looking to her left, making sure her blind spot was covered at least a little bit. The figure remained unmoving, letting a faint breath that made Jackie relax a bit. Ogres, giants, trolls, cyclops … whatever was was lurking around here didn't kill this man. He was still alive and they would have left him dead. The man twitched, making her jolt a little bit before she came to his side and gently grasped his shoulder.

"Hey, hey you alright?" Jackie asked, carefully rolling him onto his back and looking the unconscious man over. He had multiple wounds all over his body, none of them looking fatal but definitely painful. "Jeez … ," she trailed off, brushing his white hair aside and looking over his face. He didn't seem that much older than she was, perhaps in his mid twenties. His cheek rested easy in her palm as she peeled his shirt back and saw the shallow wounds all over his torso. These wounds looked … older. As if they were inflicted about a week or two ago.

"Alright buddy, gotta move you off the road." Jackie said, setting her red hood aside and rolling her sleeves up. With a hard shove she made the figure sit up before quickly hugging him from behind and began dragging him off. With a pained huff she achingly yanked him off the road while struggling quite a bit. This guy, although lean and muscular, was heavy! Almost as heavy as a big wooden log.

After she set him down she pulled off his jacket and rested his head on it before unbuttoning his shirt, tossing it aside and pulling his overalls down. Although wrapping them wasn't necessary it should help with the pain. She took the basket, opening the top and with that action committed treason against her village; she took from the basket and gave it to someone other than the witch. These goods must always reach the witch. It must never be delayed and never tampered with.

But how could she just leave this poor man on the side of the road like this?

Jackie rubbed the cool gel over his wounds and wrapped them up nice and snug, checking the rest of his body but found only minor scratches on his legs and arms. The faintest sound of a groan escaped his lips as his eyes barely cracked open before he fell limp once again, unable to wake up. She softly smiled and picked up her things before rubbing his arm.

"If you can hear me, it's alright. I patched you up a bit but see a doctor when you get into town. I need to leave now but I'll be back later." She reassured, putting her red hood back on with a snap. After a moment of thought she reached inside, taking out some wrapped food and left it on his lap before going on her way to the witch's house. She'd better hurry back for him later. Poor man could hardly move.

Upon inspecting the basket, the witch, a man of exceedingly long black hair and pale, ghostly complexion and multiple what came to be known as tattoos were inked on his skin, found something amiss. With a friendly and ominous sounding musical number, he noticed that there were missing supplies from the basket, "in all the years you've been bringing the tribute there has never been anything amiss, so why is the basket lacking items? Must I punish you? Yes, I think I should."

"Because someone needed them more than you did," she huffed, flicking him on the nose before taking her empty basket back, "there was an injured man lying on the road who needed it more than you, Grim."

"Then you should bring my missing items tomorrow," he said with a cheeky grin, "I'll be waiting for you, so come play with me tomorrow too."

"My next shift isn't for another few days. You can wait." Jackie said with folded arms as he smiled rather broadly.

"Aren't you afraid I'm going to change you into a cute little frog as punishment? Or perhaps the townspeople's apparent favorite rumor going around, a newt?" He crossed his arms with an even bigger, teasing smile, "or maybe I can change you in a more horrid thing?"

" … I'd prefer a bird if not anything else." Jackie answered with a shrug, glancing out the window and staring at the vast open sky. How she would kill for a pair of wings so she could fly away from this place but she had no idea what the outside world was really like. All she's known was the village. A pair of arms around her waist offered comfort as the witch hugged her, annoying her as she held still.

"Do you remember the time when there was a storm outside? You were so cute running in here so frightened that you latched onto my coat and didn't let go for hours." He softly smiled, petting her hair as she lightly squeezed.

" … get off. I need to go back." Jackie said, pushing him away from the hug as he sighed. Must he hug her every time she came to deliver the towns goods?

"Very well, I'll allow the village to reclaim their Red Hood for the time being. Though I look forward to the day your whole village perishes and burns due to their own stupidity." He said with a cheeky smile, rather enjoying that thought.

"Doesn't everyone?" Jackie said with a roll of her eyes, brushing off his threat. His bite was as bad as a pillow of down feathers, "I'll see you in a few days."

"I'll make some hot soup for you then. It's going to become a lot colder very, very soon," he said with a mischievous smile, folding his fingers together rather mischievously

"Well I would hope so. That's what happens in the winter." Jackie said with a small shrug before leaving.

The witch watched her leave, her fluttering red hood flowing with the faint breeze. He leaned back in his chair and simply watching her figure retreat with that lovely shade of blood red fluttering in the wind.

"Oh if only the little Red Hood knew what was to come, I wonder how she would react?" He said, lightly biting on his long pinkie nail as a wider grin curled his lips up, "en garde, destiny."

Jackie picked up the pace, hurrying back to the place she left the man. Bringing him to the village would be the best thing to do. He's very hurt but how was she going to drag him all the way there? Maybe she would check to ensure he was well before hurrying back to the village for help? As she approached the spot she left him in there was no trace of him. Her eyes widened in surprise, searching the area before looking up into the woods for him.

"Weird … hey, you still around here? Need a place to stay? There's a village not far from here." Jackie called out, scanning the woods and looking around on the grass for tracks to see if an animal could have dragged him away. She didn't see any paw prints of any kind but she didn't see footprints either. It's almost as if they guy just disappeared.

" … the village is just a straight shot down the road if you need it." Jackie called, hesitating before turning around and heading home.

* * *

The very next morning was the beginning of the change for the entire town.

Out from the forest and amongst the mist came the witch himself, cheerfully humming and singing eerie tunes of discomfort and misfortune in a language known only to himself. The town was quiet as he flicked his hand, tossing the gates aside with a loud clap of clattering wood before he hopped on inside, twirling and dancing a bit without a care in the world. Villagers who witnessed this quickly fled, fleeing for their lives in fear of the mighty witch.

Without a care in the world the witch began singing a little louder, amused by the villagers covering their ears in fear they would be cursed by his voice when really it was only a lullaby he liked to sing to Jackie whenever she was frightened. He mischievously giggled, recalling her frightened and crying face she only showed during thunderstorms when she was younger. So cute~ it made him eager to see her again and perhaps tease her some more about it.

When he reached the center of town he leaned against the large stake placed in the center. The very same place, in fact, where they had attempted to burn the witch at one point as they had with many other accused 'witches' of the town which hadn't the slightest idea about witchcraft. Ah~ the silliness of humans would never cease to amuse him.

The town's mayor, an overweight and rather unsightly character drew near with his armed and equally scared guards by his side, trying to remain strong and firm in his disposition but the witch knew him much better than that.

"Ah~ such a pleasure to see you again! What has it been, 13 years? 37?" Grim asked, biting his thumbnail while laughing, rather amused the mayor came to see him.

"Why have you broken the trust of your deal? Why are you here, in the village?" He asked rather respectfully while trying to keep his fear out of his voice. The witch had not changed or aged in the slightest bit since last time he had the misfortune of seeing his person.

Grim tilted his head with a wide grin, having far more fun than he should be but not as much as it would be. "It has not been broken by me but by you and that's why I'm here to change the deal, my friend!" The witch madly laughed, holding his gut as he floated back and sat on nothing but thin air while his feet swing back and forth like an impatient child.

"B-Broken? We have done no such thing!" The mayor said, flustered as the townspeople spied on their conversation, too afraid to show their faces but wanting to know what was being spoken.

"Twas you, twas you indeed who broke the chain and now I come to change the game!" Grim madly howled with laughter at the sing-song rhyme, spinning around restlessly in the air only a few feet above the ground with a firm grasp on his tall staff.

For a long time this maddening circle of tongues continued, making the mayor only more and more frustrated before he snapped at the witch.

"If you desire something different then you must say outright what it is!"

"Oh? OH?" He asked with a dangerous glint in his grinning smile as the mayor shrunk back, hiding behind his guards.

"But did the Red Hood not tell you what she has done?" The mayor tried to plead the case.

"Ooh~ that deserves some punishment then." The witch grinned, flipping around slowly before touching the ground with his feet, "from this moment on I desire the Red Hood come to me every other day rather than every week. Am I clear?" The witch asked with a dangerous smile gracing his lips.

"But that is far more than it can be uphold" The mayor tried not to groan or gulp.

"Far easier to uphold than my wrath and distante. Or would you prefer a display of power and curses instead?" The witch grinned.

"N..NO! Well sent the red hood alright," the mayor quickly agreed in fear, "but what offence was played on, I must ask"

"Excellent! " The witch grinned " And you may ask the Red Hood later why I am a tad upset. I will return to my home now and expect her delivery to be swift and just ait normally would."

"B-But we cannot afford to send you goods of such a nature so often! It takes at least a day to reach the others towns and another day for them to deliver their portion of the goods."

"Then if you do not like it, feel free to fend for yourselves against the darker notions of the forest. It would not concern me in the slightest if you or humans of the nearby towns were to be mutilated, your women raped, your children gobbled down by demons, your flesh melted from your bones, your towns burning in ashes … actually, I believe I would be quite amused." He hummed, smiling, "however, I choose to spare you instead through the amusement you share while you are all yet alive. Do you understand what I am saying, Mayor Simon?" He asked with a tilted head and cheeky grin.

"Y-Yes, quite so, witch." He said, grinding his teeth in irrefutable rage at the Red Hood. Whatever it is that she had done she was going to pay dearly for it.

"Excellent! I bid you all aideu, then. Until next time, Mr. Mayor." Grim said with a smile, twisting his staff around and vanishing right before the mayor's eyes before nothing but air remained. The mayor stood trembling where he stood, his face flushed with rage and nails biting into his palms from the force of his clenching fists.

"FETCH THE RED HOOD AND DRAG HER TO THE MAIN HALL!" He shouted to his guards, seeing them snap to attention before two of them raced off to fetch the woman.

No matter where the guards searched, however, they could not find Jacqueline until she returned home with some herbs from the forest. Upon entering her house the guards grabbed her, immediately dragging her off and making her drop the herbs she had collected. The moment she saw the genuine fear in their eyes and their anger, she instinctively knew something was terribly wrong and it involved the witch somehow.

Before she knew it, she stood before the town hall before the town's councillors. Everyone from the town was there sitting in the back of the great hall, waiting to hear the verdict. Why was she being put on trial? She had no idea what was going on and had to admit she was a little scared. They've never done something like this before so what happened? With a reddened, flushed face of anger the mayor stood up and threw a pointed hand in her direction.

"How dare you steal the tribute for the witch!?" The mayor screamed, "we the towns of the forest entrust solely you with delivering goods to the witch and you intentionally steal from us to bring the witch's vengeance upon us?!" He angrily accused as the townspeople began to stand and shout at her, their meanings lost in the roar of voices but their angry intentions clear.

"W-What?" Jackie staggered out, still trying to understand what was going on.

"The witch came himself into this town, something he has not done for decades before today!" He angrily bellowed as the rest of the crowd shouted and agreed, rightfully furious. If the Red Hood's package was delivered incorrectly then the witch, before Jackie was even born, threatened to unleash monsters and horrors against the town. Which, in all honesty, Jackie knew was rubbish but the townspeople's rage blinded them to the witch's common and harmless antics. However, Grim coming to the town and saying something like that put her in a whole lot of trouble.

"H-He did what?" She asked, face paling in horror as her heart dropped into her gut. Was this Grim's passive aggressive revenge on not getting his things? No, no he would not have done something like this knowing what they would do to her!

"Care to give more detail as to why the package was delivered incorrectly?" The judge quickly inquired with a venomous hiss, appearing more calm but his voice held every bit of rage as the others in the room.

"B-But the man was hurt! On the way there I had to take an alternate path to the witch's house and I found an injured traveler. I only used some bandages, gel and food to help him." Jackie explained, trying to make them understand. She had done wrong, she knew that but she could not have predicted this happening to her in response to her helping that man.

"This is garbage, what you say! So the well being of one man outweighs the well being of this village!?" The mayor angrily demanded.

"N-No! Of course not!" Jackie said, beginning to feel trapped and, by extension, suffocated by the high intensity hatred being directly at her.

"You need to correct your mistake before the witch unleashes a curse on us," the judge ordered, giving his sentence, "you are to go to the witch's house with this new tribute and we the town forbid you to return until you have righted your mistake."

Jackie's eyes widened. He … h-he can't possible mean that she needs to take the things to him tonight, does her? But, no, the night, not in the dead of night!

"B-But it's night outside. I'm not going to survive that!" Jackie gapped, feeling true fear set into her heart. Among all the monsters running around the town was the least of her problems. Those monsters wouldn't just kill her; they'd rape her, mutilate her slowly, boil her alive, fillet her and so many horrible awful things-!

"You rotten child, can you not do anything right?!" Her mother raged, staggering inside with an arm around her recent lover and a bottle in the other before she sneered, smacking the bottle into the man's chest and hatefully glaring at Jacqueline. "I'm interrupted on business and I'm told you are trying to bring the witch's wrath down on us?!" She thundered before, in front of everyone, the wild woman grabbed a fistful of Jackie's hair and punched her in the ribs, "I feed you! I clothe you! You're only job is to deliver goods to the witch's house, that is your only duty!" She shouted as Jackie covered her face and took the beating quietly. If she fought back others would join in to restrain her and beat her more. She learned that lesson the hard way years ago.

"Such disgrace, a mistake that should not exist!"

"Such a terrible child, how dare you do this to us?!"

"How shameful to make us stoop to this sort of lowly public beatings to make you understand your mistake!"

"Let us give her to the witch as tribute! Let the witch keep this child of a whore!"

Jackie kept a stiff lip, refusing to show tears and her pain to the animals around her. These townspeople were mad, insane down to the smallest child. Why was she, the Red Hood, the only one subjected to this? When another's child is publicly beaten or humiliated the parents threw a fit but when it is her, only her, they cheer and rejoice in her suffering. How much longer did she have to endure this humiliating disgrace? Her mother kicked her behind the leg but Jackie kept her stance, enduring the attack and concealing her fright.

"That's enough, Ms. Penske!" The mayor ordered, getting down from his seat before grabbing the basket and shoving it into Jackie's beaten arms. His grimy fingers locked around her jaws with enough force to leave bruises as he forced her to look at her. "You're going out into the night to deliver these to him immediately, you understand? You're going to reap what you have sewn!" He shouted, grabbing her by the hair and began dragging her outside. The crowd parted, uttering words of blinded hate as they glared at her, cursed her and mocked her very existence. Her jaw trembled as she grit her teeth. These people, this town, it's disgusting, they're disgusting, all of them!

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jackie shrieked, ramming her fist into the mayor's side. The town came to a standstill, gritting their teeth and hovering their hands over their weapons and returning her glare with a sneer of their own. With a pained grunt she broke free, dancing away and glaring at him. "You know sending me out there is a death sentence with all those monsters out there!" She shouted, feeling the beginnings of rain spit over the town and, by extension, the forest.

The mayor's expression seethed with rage as he pulled out his hand pistol, startling Jackie but she held firm as he staggered up to her, pressing the nozzle against her chest. Jackie's eyes became dead, staring the man in the eyes as she stepped forward towards him and felt his finger twitch towards the trigger.

"I should kill you here and now, you lowly peasant!" He shouted as Jackie firmly grabbed the nozzle, bringing it up. The people watched, breathless as she set it instead to her forehead.

"Killing me would be a mercy at this point." She said with honest eyes, staring without the slightest bit of deviation. She was simply done. If he killed her now … if he killed her now, she wouldn't care. She'd be embraced by the eternal sleep of death and, oddly, that sounded like the most beautiful thing she could ever hope for. What more of a future did she have if not more of this abuse and torture? She was treated more like a dog than a human being. The mayor's eyes widened, taken off guard but he remained firm, looking hesitant compared to Jackie's cold and solemn gaze piercing right through him. He cocked the back of the gun, looking more sure now as Jackie held completely still for him.

"Go on then, kill her! She's a disgusting presence that needs to be purged from this town!" Someone shouted from the crowd before the crowd burst into an uproar.

"Don't kill her! Who then would take the basket to the witch? One of our children instead?"

"Blast her brains all the dirt! She's begging for it like a whore on her knees!"

"Enough of this madness! The children are watching!"

"Shoot her and then burn her corpse at the stake! That witch has infected her!"

"She does not deserve that kind of mercy! Feed her to the beasts of the forest!"

More words from the crowd were heard, none in her favor, were all revolting between sending her off to be killed or killing her right there and then. Why did they hate her so? She didn't know. Tears did not shimmer, nor did she move. This hell, this place, this horror … ending it sounded better and better by the moment.

"I wonder who the next victim will be for the town's hate." Jackeline said, searching his eyes almost pleadingly. The mayor's hand began to shake as his adam's apple bobbed from a nervous gulp. This gluttonous pig did not have what it took to kill her.

"What are you waiting for, put her down like the dog she is!" Jackie's own mother screamed. Her words did not affect Jackie's numb emotions. She simply … just could not go on like this any longer. And now that she had the choice to end it she would accept it.

With a gnashing of his teeth the mayor Simon brought his pistol to the side and bashed her across the cheek, making her stumble back as he stepped over her with the gun once again with a crazed smile cracking over his lips.

"The people have spoken, daughter of the whore." He said as he put pressure on the trigger. Jackie's eyes remained open, staring the coward in the eyes and never flinching. All of this … all of this hell on Earth was about to end. And right now, in that moment, she accepted that sort of end with pleasant smile gracing her face.

A monstrous howl startled the people into complete silence as her head snapped towards the gates, listening to the frighteningly close proximity of the roar as the rain began to come down harder. The gun slipped from the mayor's shaking hands as he staggered back, all of the town listening to something large lumbering and snarling outside the walls of spiked tree trucks.

The women and children started screaming before they huddle together in the middle of the great hall, the mothers hugging their children protectively and the fathers getting out their weapons and began shouting orders to the crowd. No matter what they did to try and quiet them they continued to scream in horror.

"The great witch is angry-!"

"It's the girl he wants, she caused all of this!"

"He sent a demon after us! Quickly, let us throw her out and satisfy his craving for revenge!"

People screamed as the guards grabbed Jackie and the basket. She gasped, startled as they began dragging her towards the gates. Soft breathes became loud and ragged, the fear and adrenaline setting in thickly in her bloody before they threw her to the ground through the cracked opening in the wall with the basket.

"No, no don't leave me out here!" She screamed, trying to dive back inside but the guards held her off with spears at their ready and keeping her at bay. "MURDERERS!" She shrieked, watching the light of the town shut away behind the doors, leaving her alone and defenseless in the woods.

She was going to die out in the woods with whatever that demon was out here. Jackie was scared to death. All of the monsters that roamed the forest came out at night to hunt the likes of humans. She knew this to be true because of the stories of horrors travelers would tell. Every sort of monster was in this forest but not wolves; those were the only predators they did not have but there was truly a monstrous wolf out here now desiring the flesh of man. She … she was not allowed the mercy of dying peacefully. No, she was going to be killed in the most horrid of ways.

From above the guardsmen threw stones at her, forcing her back as she tried to shield herself from the heavy stones. She was left out here to be ripped apart by the monsters lurking in the forests. No, not monsters. Beasts who run on instinct. Monsters were aware of their hideous actions and these townspeople were most assuredly the true monsters.

The witch's house … come to the witch's house, Jackie. A voice reverberated through her mind as her eyes widened. She would survive this night if she could just make it to Grim's house. With a small, pleading cry of fear and desperation she grabbed the basket, taking off running into the night as the storm began to pick up and ravage the landscape.

The moving shadows at every turn presented a beast in one form or another lying in weight for unsuspecting prey. Jackie breathed loud and fast, desperately sprinting as fast as she could across the wide road. The road was dangerous but the forests were deadly. While the road was an open space the forest was where predatory beasts lay. Her lungs soon began to burn, the freezing wind whipping against her legs and leaving chills all through her body.

* * *

After over 3 hours of running she collapsed to a stop, wheezing with her staggering breath. So close, she was so close now! Her legs trembled so terribly that with her next step she faltered to the ground, trying to rasp in enough air for her aching head. So close, she was so close-!

A massive groaning of trees made her breath stagger and eyes widen in fright, scared to death as she looked back and saw a large hand reaching for her. She screamed and darted out of its reach, dropping the basket as she headed for the trees. A troll, that was the troll that left the footprint from before, it had to be.

"I got it, I got it!" Another shouted as it sprung up from the ground, startling her as it managed to grab her back leg and lifted her into the air. Her hand shot down, unlatching the buckle to her dagger but it fell from its sheath. With wide eyes she stretched to catch the bladed end but it eluded her grasp, falling to the ground as he was held up between the two large trolls like a trophy. The stench alone made her stomach churn but what frightened her the most was the unspeakable horrors she could only imagine what they were going to do to her. She knew what trolls did to people; cooked them alive, skinned them, gutted them, drowned them in boiling soup … this was not going to be a quick death. It was going to be long and painful if she did not think of a way to get free.

"Let go, let go of me!" Jackie screamed, pounding on the troll's fist as it laughed, shaking her a little bit and giving her whiplash. The other crouched down and poked her head to force her to turn towards it with an unnatural twisting of her spine.

"It's too cold a night. Good for a boiling soup," the troll said while it appreciated its prey.

"No no, let's just eat her raw! Cooking takes all the fun out of this!" The other complained, lifting her away from the other one as if it was a game of keepaway. She desperately grabbed onto a branch, trying to break off a splintered end to stab the monster but the jerking around made her cold and blistered fingers lose their grip.

"No. When you get eat them raw you always take the bigger part." The other accused with a snarl.

"Well what are we doing just standing around arguing like this? Grab a leg and the one with the largest piece gets to eat it!" The troll laughed, swinging her around with her free leg in the other's direction. As the beast reached for her she tucked her leg in, kicking its hand as hard as she could before a hand enveloped her head, blinding her and putting pressure around her skull before she felt the hot, calloused fingers of the troll grasp her calf. They both stood away from one another with Jackie in the center, her legs taut and stretched in a perfect split as she began to heave with tears budding in her eyes. This was how she was to die, being ripped apart by trolls. The stretching agony in her pelvic bones was enough to make her scream in agony but she held it in, refusing to give these creatures the satisfaction of her useless shrieking before fear overtook her pride.

"No, no! Let me go! I have goods to deliver to the witch!" Jackie screamed, pounding against one of their fat fingers before the pressure greatened. It hurt, it hurts-! Bones began to shift and ligaments strain from their pressure, evoking a powerful and fright fraught scream from her throat. "JUST HURRY UP AND KILL ME IF YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT!" She screamed at them, angry at her fate those villagers sent her to. She was dead either way so she might as well beg for a fast one.

"Such a noisy one, she is. I'm not letting you get the bigger half." The bald one smirked, very slowly pulling on her leg.

"Fast will get you nothing but a leg! It needs to be slow." The other gleefully laughed as they both slowly began applying pressure. No, no-! Before, she welcomed death by her own choice, but here in the face of heartless beasts and immeasurable pain she desperately wanted to be free. She could not explain the difference between dying at the town and here now. It was not because she was going to die painfully. Her sudden desperation to live was not because she knew her bones would be used as toothpicks after these trolls were done ripping the flesh off her body.

She simply could no longer take having her fate be in the hands of others who so carelessly handled her future and bound her to their own selfish desires.

A sharp, barking roar made them pause as they looked over towards the forest.

Jackie clawed at the air, feeling their grasps loosen as she wormed and wriggled just before she too froze. Why had they suddenly stopped?

At the corner of the opening stood a massive white wolf, eyes a burning crimson and muzzle stuck in a permanent snarl. Her heart skipped a beat, knowing this was the monster that had to have howled outside the town. Was it here to steal the prey from the trolls? The only human unfortunate enough to be out on a night like this?

"Hey … something off 'bout that wolf." One of them said, tilting its head as Jackie shakily exhaled, seeing the wolf's eyes lock onto her sights. It knew its prey was here in the grasp of two giant trolls. The wolf's ravenous eyes … it made her heart drop into her stomach. No matter how this played out she was going to die. Most likely to the trolls but if she was to escape during the frenzy, the wolf would assuredly finish her off and outrun the trolls.

Jackie tried to worm free again, unable to understand why they froze up like this. Can't they just kill the wolf like what they were about to do to her? Though monstrous in size it was still a wolf, a mere wild beast compared to these trolls.

With a snapping bark from the wolf the troll let out a scream, both of them dropping Jackie hard over the ground as she rolled with the momentum. The white wolf bit right through the troll's arm so it hung to its elbow by a few stringy tendons, the blood spraying over the ground like a harsh rain. The other troll tried grabbing the wolf's tail but the wolf turned around and ripped away the trolls hand while Jackie staggered to her feet, grabbing Grim's basket before sorely running towards Grim's house and leaving the fighting creatures to their bloody encounter behind.

Those trolls almost split her and now there was the wolf. The agonizing pain in Jackie's hips and legs made her falter to the ground, giving in to the incomprehensible agony. She could no longer physically bare to take another step. Her breath stuck in her throat as something pressed between her shoulder blades, making her entire frame tremble in horror as she looked back and saw the muzzle of the dog. With a small cry of fear she covered her head, breathing fast and hard in fright as it pawed at her back, pressing it's sinister cold nose against her neck and began sniffing her. Its teeth grazed her skin, making her just about lose it as she held completely still, pained by the injuries she sustained by the trolls. It … was all too much. The fear, the pain, the horror of the looming white wolf … it was too much for her.

Jackie's exhaustion caught up to her as she fell limp against the ground, her heart unable to take the terror. She was so close to getting away … but maybe now she could enjoy the embrace of death, faster between the wolf's fangs than in the troll's hands. Her eyes slid shut, accepting her fate and giving in to the darkness that eagerly dragged her deep into its depths.

Jackie woke with a start, breathing hard as she looked around the path, surprised to find herself on the side of the road. She … was alive? But how? Her teeth chattered, digits freezing as she shakily stood up, feeling a layer of clothing fall to the ground. She looked down and was startled to see the forest green trench coat of the stranger she had helped earlier over her. Now that she was looking around she realized she was in the same spot she had found the stranger, roughly ten minutes from Grim's house.

She hardly had time to process this before she quickly picked up the jacket, brushing off the dirt and mud the best she could before hugging it closer and feeling the remaining warm glow from the fabric. Did the traveler see her and help drag her to safety while those trolls killed the wolf? It was the only explanation she could think of and she would be eternally grateful to that man. The aching in her hips and legs were still proof of what happened. She was nearly killed by those trolls and that horrifying white wolf. She looked around, unable to see anyone around. No trolls, no wolf and no stranger either.

"O-Oh-kay … okay … alright." Jackie shakily to herself, nodding and letting herself absorb the situation. She was cast out by the town, left to die in the woods by those heartless monsters. She was nearly ripped apart by giant, man eating trolls and a wolf too. The thought of the wolf somehow terrified her more than anything. And why was this all happening? This was all happening because of her blind eye of a different color that made her look different. If only she was not born with it she would not have been cursed to a life like this. She wasn't living; she was surviving. And what kind of life was that? The life of a slave, even to her own mother.

All of this … that witch, that stupid Grim, he did this, he released that demon to the forest! Jackie's head snapped up, a murderous strain to her jaw as she wobbled to her feet and began making an angry run for his house. Grim, that witch, that witch Grim, he did this, all of this-! In the back of her mind she knew this was terribly irrational thinking on her part. That it was not his fault; it was hers. Allowing her raging emotions to take hold of her scarred and aching heart she shoved all the rational thoughts of her mind into the back of her subconscious. Grim was a dead witch.

As soon as she arrived to the witch's house, and despite the pain she felt, Jackie gripped the posts in front of his door before literally kicking the brittle door in and making her way inside with all her rage.

"GRIM!" She roared in a seething hatred as she stood in the doorway, sopping wet and heavily breathing, covered in dirt, forest leaves and scratches.

"Oh ho~ someone doesn't sound happy," The aforementioned witch said, poking his head out from the kitchen with a cutesy smile as the basket came flying at his face. He easily ducked down and caught the basket instead, his smile remaining as he set the basket on the table with a happy hum.

"You scum for a non-human being! You, you-!" She screamed, unable to think of anything worse to call him to get across her unyielding anger for the witch, "why would you curse us, you vile, stupid witch! I told you I would bring the supplies in a few days!" She screamed, barely resisting the urge to strangle the witch. Grim laughed, amused as he shrugged.

"I don't understand why you are so angry with me, Ms. Jacqueline. I had nothing to do with this storm. It is a natural occurrence to get storms every so often, no?" He said with a cheeky smile as he approached. Jackie's sanity visibly snapped as she dropped the trench coat and her own red hood towards the floor in the same move. Grim stood still, smiling brightly and knowing what was to come.

Oh yes, she was going to strangle him alright.

"LIAR!" She accused before tackling the man over and squeezing her small hands around his neck as he hysterically laughed, thoroughly enjoying her half hearted attempt to kill him.

"Oh, my dear, if only you could see how broken you've become. Your angry expression is so delightful !" He said with a laugh, feeling her fingers only hold his neck but not go so far as to strangle him. He looked her in the eyes, softly smiling as he saw her eyes tearing over with a faint jerk of a sob in her chest. She was beginning to break down from the weight of the world weighing too heavily on her bent spine, " … tears are not a weakness. They are simply a sign of someone who has been far too strong for far too long," he gently reassured, cupping her cheek and wiping a tear away with his thumb.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thumped her head against his chest, shaking with sobs. She was tired. She was scared, wet, cold and hungry. She almost died not once, but twice tonight. The first by the village she has served dutifully for countless years and the second by those trolls in the forest. And that was not even including the wolf.

"I was so scared, Grim … I am still so, so terrified-!" She hiccuped, crying into his dark clothes as Grim pet her slick wet hair with a soft and caring touch. She didn't care of his touches were not genuine. She did not care if they were fake. No matter what happened this witch, Grim, had been there for her through everything. And admittedly, though their meetings were often but brief, she felt a strong connection to him. A witch, of all people. Yes, rejected by all people, she felt her kinship with the witch to be the strongest. As pathetic as that sounded she could not put another word to it than daring to go so far as to say she almost thought of him as a father. Of course she would die sooner she would tell anyone that but that was what she felt; and she was pretty sure the witch knew that as well.

"It's alright, my dear. Cry as much as you'd like," he gently soothed, sitting up and hugging her closely, "I'm surprised to see you out here in the dead of night; I suppose the townspeople truly have lost their wits, haven't they?" He mused, drawing her hair back and affectionately kissing her forehead. Despite him telling them he wanted the package promptly, even he was mildly amused that they sent her out during a storm such as this during the night. Oh well, at least he was able to see her cute and crying expression.

"T-They only did so b-because you sent a demon after them." She shakily breathed, hardly done with crying. If anything this was just the beginning and both of them knew that.

"I sent no demon." He said, rocking back and forth slightly while rubbing her back.

" … b-but if you didn't send that wolf, why-?!" she started before he pressed her head against his shoulder and softly shushed her.

"Shh, my dear Red Hood. It was not me but rest assured, you are safe here. The ribbons on the trees repel the monsters of the forest and do not allow them to draw near," he said, giving a firm squish in the hug, "feel free to rest the night here. Nighttime is deadly even for I to go walking about," he said before shuffling his arms around.

Jackie leaned back, surprised as she stood up with her and picked her up. She stayed quiet, trying to stifle her sobs as he entered his living room and laid her in a string hammock that curled around her body and hugged her form. The threads somehow felt warm and inviting as she laid still, allowing herself to be coiled up by the netting like a protective cocoon. It was admittedly the safest she had felt in a very, very long time.

"...thanks," she weakly mumbled before resting her head with an exhausted sigh. The snap of his fingers brought the crackling of fire as she cracked her eyes open, finding the fireplace blazing brightly and her clothes hanging on a line near the fire. At this point she could care less that he changed her with his magic. She only wanted to sleep. A nice, long, never ending and dreamless sleep.

He whispered words in a deep, hypnotic fashion as the pain in her body lessened, her fatigue fading away with her consciousness. She was hurt and in pain, both physically and mentally. What broke her spirits the most, however, was the fact she was going to have to wake up and return once the storm has passed. Back to that hateful village … the village of nightmares … a soft cry slipped past her lips as she painfully stretched her legs, feeling the aching in her joints as Grim's hand pressed through the netting and against her head.

"Hear me, little woman who plays the role of the Red Hood. I am not ungrateful for your role as a mule for that cowardly and superstitious town. I thank you for your continued services," he says, kissing her head through the warm threads but she had already fallen asleep thanks to his harmless spell. His smile softened as he sat beside her, infusing the threads with direct energy essence before letting the small healing pod recycle it's warm energy through her body. She was so cute continuing to work for the village, never thinking of actually leaving that ghastly place.

"But all of that is soon to change … be prepared, Red Hood, for this is only the beginning of what's to come." He whispered into her ear with a small added spell, watching her lip slightly twitch into a smile from the calming and lucid dream prancing around in her head. He mischievously snickered and returned to his kitchen, boiling some snake eyes and adding grinded scales of a newt to reveal the form of a white wolf ghosting through the forest, lost and confused in this new place whilst being unable to leave. "Ah~ so cute. I can't wait to have him as a pet." He hummed, tapping his finger against the water to cause ripples through the stew. Grim paused as he saw the wolf freeze, tense and alert before looking back at him. Eyes wide and focused on the wolf Grim watched it shift into an apparition of sorts before lunging at the water with jaws wide open.

"Whoopsie~," Grim sang, slamming the metal lid on top of the stew and breaking the spell. He mischievously giggled, getting giddy, "Hee, hee heeheehee~! I can't wait!" He joyfully cried out, clapping his hands together, "I want to check on the others too." He said, tossing the lid off and snapping his fingers as a few other orbs of water floated into the air. The watery bubbles glowed and shifted, revealing the other players that would soon join this game. His grin widened, showing off his white teeth as he very darkly laughed, his voice becoming much deeper in his excitement.

"I can't wait for the fun to truly begin in this little game of mine."

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! 5 REVIEWS to see what happens next~! x3


	2. Chapter 2

The rattling of the shudders woke Jackie with a start as she suddenly sat up, looking out the window at the cascade of downpour covering the entire forest. With the thickness of this rain and clouds it was impossible to tell if it was night or day. This storm was a once a century kind of storm. It wouldn't surprise her if this kept up for a few days, stranding here at the witch's house. With a heavy sigh she parted the web-like hammock and got to her feet, dumbfounded by the lack of pain she was in. That medicine, although unsettling and disgusting, really worked.

"Oh, Jackie, are you up?" Grim asked from the kitchen, poking his head into the door, "excellent! How are you feeling?" He asked, hopping over with a cheeky grin.

"Surprisingly pretty good." Jackie admitted, raising her dress a bit and looking at her legs. They were just fine.

"I expected so. Well, then I can say that the new concoction really worked." He crossed his arms and nodded all happily to himself. "Your tissue and ligaments were quite stretched so I had to work on them first and then made sure that the renewed ones weren't stiff. Lucky for you I know just how to heal these sort of things."

Jackie stretched somewhat and felt it didn't hurt as much as last night, when her nose caught wind of a curious scent she asked, "you have something cooking?" It was a musty smell that escaped words as to what it could be.

"I always do but this is not for ingesting. It's fermented snake liver with crushed pig hooves, veins of a dozen salamanders, spots of an Amanita Muscaria, fish intestines and some rosemary." He answered with a perfectly happy face as Jackie literally gagged, feeling utterly disgusted with that.

"W-What in the good world is that for?!" Jackie gapped, shuddering in just the mere thought of anyone having to drink it.

"Medicine for another customer of mine," he said as she let out a relieved sigh knowing it wasn't for her before she paused.

"Customers?" She asked. This was the first time she ever heard him say something like that, "do you get other visitors other than myself?"

"Ooh~ jealous?" He teased as her eyes narrowed, daring him to continue on before he giggled at her expression, "yes, I have many, many customers, my dear. I'm surprised you never found out after all these years."

"I really had no idea." She admitted. That is so strange … was he perhaps lying? The path to his house wasn't very worn so if there were common travelers on it she would have noticed their tracks, "what kind of goods do you sell?"

"The usual, mostly medicines with the occasional cursing," he shrugged.

"Right, right … and what are these herbs for?"

"You tell me." He said with a cheeky grin as she paused, realizing she was being tested by the witch. She smirked.

"From a glance I would say you're seasoning some but you're not," She said, poking her fingers into the other leaves and making sure not to get the substances mixed with one another, "these will be used in a … muscles relaxation … no, not that." She said, leaning back and thinking, "I don't recognize the last one here so I would have to go with an external medicine that will be added to some sort of adhesive cream."

"You're not so far off; when you're better maybe I'll tell you. In the meantime I'm making some ointment for your lovely skin but while I make the paste I want you to grind these up so I can boil them," he smiled, brushing a finger over her arm and drawing her attention back to the discolorations on her body, "do you not feel these?" He asked, taking her arm and twisting it around to show the bruises which mirrored the form of hands that strangled her arm.

"These aren't much." Jackie said with a shrug. She honestly got bruises so often that they didn't bother her too much at this point. Well, more like she did not vocalize her pain.

"You are so stern to tolerate this without complain." It was impossible to know if his words were a mock or a reprimand. Most likely they were both.

"Do you want me to get all huffy? Do you want me to complain about the marks to ears that won't listen? Complaining hardly accomplishes anything so why do it at all?" She snapped, annoyed at his comment. He acts like others would care if she complained about her marks.

"Do you want to do that or perhaps want something to be done in regards? That is of course up to you." He said, poking the tip of her nose before returning to the kitchen, "while you are resting you should make yourself useful; I need you to grind some herbs for me." He hummed as he returned a little too quickly, carrying some stone mortars and pestles with him with herbs already cut up and placed inside.

"What is this one?" Jackie asked, picking up the mortar with plush looking leaves. She rubbed the greenery between her fingers before smelling it, getting the strongest scents of lemon from it. She almost wanted to taste it, wondering if she could use it as flavoring for food but she knew better than to taste something the witch gave her.

"It's from a land far away from here; it's natural aroma and toxins soothe aches with ease." He explained with a grin.

"I never knew there was a plant that smelled like a lemon before," she said with a light chuckle, taking the pestle and began grinding the plant up. Her wrist rolled with ease as she grinded the plant into a mushy consistency, setting it aside and working on the others to absolute perfection. A deep and cheerful hum caught her attention as she glanced over at Grim, watching him staring at her hands and the consistency rather blatantly, " … what?"

"While your body does not hold the natural capacity needed of that to be a spellcaster, your hands are incredibly skilled. You could easily be an excellent alchemist and herbalist with the right guidance," he purred, poking his finger into the dust and testing the consistency, "yes, a very, very good quality - though untrained - that can only be made with naturally skilled hands. Your skills in this area could get to rival even mine." He said, flattering her as she stared at him suspiciously.

"What do you want, Grim?" She said with narrowed eyes in annoyance. Was he offering to teach her? He smiled, staring at the powder before taking the bowl from her before both of them paused and listened closely to the sounds, or rather lack of noise. It was close to being silent outside as if the storm, all at once, died down. They both look outside, caught off guard as the rain softened it's fall and the winds quieted.

"It's over?" Jackie asked, surprised as she walked over to the window and looked up at the clearing sky. Just beyond the clearing, though, she could still see a massive wall of wind coming towards them rather rapidly.

"It's only the eye of the storm, my dear. But during this little respite, why don't you collect some fresh herbs for me in my garden?" Grim suggested, trotting into his kitchen and pulling out a pair of sheers.

" … yeah, sure." Jackie said, standing up and stretching her pleasantly stiff limbs.

"I want some basil, rosemary, fennel, cilantro, bella dona, wild lilies and garlic. You will find them in the back through the small path." He noted with a smile.

"Outside?" Jackie uneasily said, shivering slightly as the thought of the trolls were still fresh in her mind. How that wolf got away from them and had time to catch her she had no idea. Actually, she really had no idea how she survived at all.

"You needn't worry." He said, giving her a brief, one armed hug before setting the shears in her hands, "as long as you stay within the trees with the red ribbons on them they won't even be able to sense you. You'll be fine." He reassured as she managed a half smile.

"You better bet right or else you'll have to find a new Red Riding Hood to mule your things back and forth." She teased rather lightheartedly, warmly smiling towards the witch. She trusted the witch. It made her uncomfortable to admit it to herself but out of anyone she knew she trusted the witch with her life. It was foolish to do so and one day he would most likely betray her horribly but for now she trusted him more than any other person she's ever known. She supposed that expecting his eventual betrayal made him trust him even more and that comforted her.

"Then I'd better prepare a new potion for your health and more ribbons for the trees. I find your visits rather entertaining." He noted with a playful wink.

Jackie genuinely smiled this time at his words before she left, lightly treading down the thin path to the outside garden. She was shocked the plants were perfectly alright even during this storm until she stepped inside an invisible force, feeling the warm air embrace her immediately. Whoa … she looked up, seeing some spitting rain falling but not feeling any of it, watching as it evaporated into a soft haze and floating off into the sky. Magic was really amazing. She let out a soft sigh and began trimming some leaves off the basil, setting them in the small basket before snipping up some rosemary.

Her breathing hitched as she felt her blood run cold for seemingly no reason. The hair on the back of her neck rose, sensing something rather than seeing anything at all. The strangest menacing dark presence made her skin crawl with goosebumps as she whipped around, startled as she saw the same man as before standing in the corner of the garden and staring rather openly at her. She blinked, startled and losing her voice to speak before finding it again with a sighing smile.

"I'm glad you're alright. I was worried thinking something dragged you away while I was gone," she said, setting the basket aside before walking towards him, "it isn't safe to be out alone like this," she anxiously said, pausing by the red ribbons as Grim's words echoed through her mind. It was only the stranger she helped, no harm there. She stepped past the ribbons as the man's red gaze flickered from her to the ribbon and back again before she paid it any mind.

"Are you alright? What are you doing out here in the woods alone? It's dangerous." she said, looking over his strangely bare top before remembering his jacket. "Oh! You're jacket, I forgot about that. Let me go get it." She said, turning to leave before he very gently hooking his hand around her elbow. With the utmost gentleness he ushered her still as he looked over her bruises and rather painful looking marks.

The man's eyes looked at the markings and then he looked her in the eyes as if asking what were those from since she didn't have them last time they met. Jackie's cheeks touched with pink, noticing his concern for her as she tried to sheepishly glance away but found herself looking him right in his crimson eyes instead.

"O-Oh, uh, these? They're nothing, really." She reassured him as he continued to stare with the strangest intensity in his burning eyes, " … were you there? When I w-was attacked by those trolls?" Jackie asked, having to ask. She wanted to know how she ended up so close to Grim's house when she still had another hour of running to do. That wolf was there too … she wondered what happened to it. She thought she was dead after it pinned her.

The man lightly nodded, his stoic gaze continuing to stare at the marks on her flesh. Embarrassment touched her cheeks. This man saved her life that night. If he hadn't then she would have been eaten by that wolf.

"Ah … thank you, Hans," Jackie said, wanting to give the man who saved her life a hug - a soon becoming habit instilled in her by Grim's clinginess - but she resisted, "how can I repay you? You saved my life."

Hans leaned down towards her, his lips getting close to hers. Jackie held completely still, her breath stuttering as she actually waited for the warmth of his touch before he dipped a little lower and hardly audible to the ear, sniffed her. She blinked, startled as she held still. Did he just … _sniff_ , her? After that he moved away and turned around to leave.

"Ah, wait, why don't you come inside? It's safer than being in the storm." She said, gently catching his arm. A piercing, sharp glance of his blood red eyes made her breath hitch as she quickly retreated back, her lips trembling in remembrance of the white wolf's crimson eyes. The man's expression did not change but those eyes alone held its own menacing air.

Without a word he turned around and walked away uncaring about the weather or her startled reaction. That glare … that awful, terrible and heart stopping glare was something she had never suffered before. She had received plenty of glares in the past from the villagers but this man's glare was genuine and thorough in a way that didn't hide what he felt. Those eyes alone piercing through her was enough to invoke a nature of such fright that her feet remained rooted to the ground. As she watched him leave she felt as if she had just survived an encounter with a truly deadly predator. The thought left her heart quivering as she watched him leave, but she also felt a sort of longing for him to stay. He had frightened her terribly but he was also the only one to have ever helped her in such a way. It was such a strange and contradicting feeling that she didn't know what to do and before she could call out to him he had already vanished into the darkness of the forest.

The wind soon began to pick up before Jackie came to her senses, quickly gathering the rest of the herbs and retreating back inside Grim's house for safety before rain and hail pelted the glass windows.

"Phew~! It got _much_ worse!" Grim laughed, clapping his hands in enjoyment at the raging storm. It almost looked like he was going to start dancing. His tapping feet certainly pointed at that.

"Are you truly enjoying this storm that much? It's going to ruin farmer's crops at this rate." Jackie asked, cautiously glancing outside and hoping it won't begin to thunder or lightning at some part.

"Of course I am! Wonderful things come out after such nice rain and I get free publicity in the foolish minds of the foolish fools who foolishly think I'm foolishly responsible for this … tomfoolery. Ha, ha _ha_!" He madly laughed before suddenly stopping with a shrug and normal voice, "well, at least I'm not responsible this time."

" … nice things like what? Wait, 'this time'?" Jackie asked with a slightly raised eyebrow. She wanted to comment on his idiocy for making her situation at town worse but it wasn't his fault; she should have been more explicit telling him not to do anything dumb and it could have been avoided if she just came the next day. Well, live and learn.

"Mushrooms, snails, slugs, moss, special flowers, creatures of darkness who come out hunting and many, many other fun things to collect." Grim said with a cheeky grin and totally ignored her second question.

" … what _kind_ of mushrooms and flowers?" Jackie tried to nonchalantly ask, looking away and trying not to seem too interested. As crazy as this witch was he was very knowledgeable. He knew things she could never hope to achieve and while she did want to learn more, she still kept a reserved air about her.

"Some Mushrooms that are poisonous until dried and then prepared, but once they are, they are very effective in potions. As for flowers, some that are used for sweetening foods or drinks, some that make you sleep, others that make you paralyzed and so many more delightful ingredients!" He excitedly trilled as a wider and wider wicked grin spread across his face. His eyes coolly slid over in her direction, studying her rather adorable and stubborn attitude, "all kinds of very interesting things come out. It would be foolish not to collect them now while I have the chance." His smile turned more sweet as she relented and looked at him fully.

"And these effects are all natural or do you use magic on them?" She asked.

"Ho ho~ I could tell you, but if you want to know those specifics you'll have to agree on becoming my cute student." He teased with a cheeky grin as she rolled her eyes.

"No matter how many times you ask, Grim, I won't become your student." She firmly stated, actually quite horrified of that.

"Well then, I suppose I simply need to wait until you ask me instead," he hummed with a cheerful grin, "regardless, the offer still stands." He said with a smile.

 **MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW**

Jackie slowly made her way home, thoroughly enjoying the smell of the wet earth beneath her boots. She loved it when it rained. Everything afterwards just felt so clean and healthy. The red ribbon around Jackie's wrist bothered her a little bit from it's tickling edges but she didn't think much about it. Grim told her it would protect her and she believed that.

The basket weight light in her hands as she continued to walk, hardly making it a quarter way to the village when she saw a small girl, hardly around 12 years old, approaching. Jackie walked off to the side, watching the little girl in the red coming towards her before her heart dropped into her gut.

They … they already assumed she died?

Jackie's expression turned cold and deadly as she stepped into the pathway, seeing the girl stop before jolt back in fright. A hardness in her heart softened a bit as Jackie approached, recognizing that terrified, frightened gaze in her face. A gaze she too often held herself in the mirror.

"You … b-b-but m-my father-," she started, nearly shrieking as Jackie reached towards her and gently grabbed the basket. The girl shivered, remaining firm in her stance as Jackie gently took the basket from her hands and sadly looked over her.

"I'm not a ghost. See?" Jackie said, holding her other hand out for the girl to touch. She hesitantly poked Jackie's palm, nervously gulping as the young girl looked her in the eyes with a teary gaze. " … it's scary out here, isn't it?" She said as the girl remained silent, too frightened to speak. " ... Here," Jackie said, setting the baskets aside before taking off her ribbon and handing it to the girl, "this will protect you on your way home. Hurry back to the village and let them know I'm not dead. I'll deliver this to the witch before coming home." Jackie explained, staring at the fake crimson hood in annoyance before taking it off of the girl suddenly, startling the young girl as it fell with a small snap. The girl's legs trembled as Jackie stared at her coldly. "Never wear that hood lightly." She warned before picking up the two baskets and spare hood, turning around to return to Grim's house before the speechless girl ran for her life back towards the village.

Jackie's fingers trembled in anger as she tried to control herself. Th-Those rotten idiots-! So what, they thought she was dead so they went ahead and sent someone else?! Once the girl was out of earshot she threw the smaller red hood to the ground and stomped on it hard.

"Those rotten, no good, stupid swines of idiotic-!" She shouted, continuing to stomp the hell out of the replacement red hood before she took a deep, shakily calm breath and exhaled. She knew she couldn't blame the little girl but she was so angry that she didn't know what to do with herself.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed into the air with all her rage, uttering every curse and every angry word that had ever been said to her, cursing out the people of the village one by one before taking another deep, calming breath.

" … _nope_ , still not good." She hissed between her teeth, roughly grabbing the dirtied red hood before running to the witch's house. With nothing in her way to stop her she ran right inside, zipping past Grim who opened the door for her with a pleasant smile. Jackie dropped both baskets before leaping over the couch and, with all the angry she could muster, she threw the fake red hood into the lit fireplace. Her chest huffed and puffed as she glared at the rising flames, watching the newly stitched red hood burn before her eyes. Grim darkly laughed, realizing what must have happened.

"I'm so touched you get jealous about anyone coming to me but you. And since you hate those silly villagers now I can truly curse them," Grim happily exclaimed and from out of nowhere in his hand appeared a wand with a badly crafted shaft. "That means you can happily become my apprentice!"

" … no, I don't hate them." Jackie said with a heavy sigh, running a hand through her hair before pinching the bridge of her nose and trying not to lose it again, "I just have an _extreme_ dislike for idiots who don't think … which basically consists of the whole village." She sighed, feeling her rage floating away like the ashes of the red colored hood in the fire.

"Oh ho~ Red Hood, your misplaced 'understanding' for that village truly knows no bounds," he giggled, walking over and hugging her. She stiffened up a bit, surprised as he lightly squeezed, "you're the only Red Hood fit to deliver my goods. Remember that." He said with a smile before she turned around, hugging him back.

" … I'm not jealous." She huffed, looking away before he poked her cheek with a long nail.

"I think you are."

"I'm not."

"Are too."

"Get off, I need to go back now."

"But why? Just stay here." He said with a shrug as Jackie froze, startled at the offer. "I do care about you because you are too fun."

" … stay?" She asked, surprised at his offer. Of course it … had to be a joke.

"Of course! Why would you go back when I already prepared your room upstairs? Why would you go back to bring the goods to me when you can stay here and go to get them instead?"

" … no, Grim. I'm not staying here." Jackie said, shrugging him off rather angrily before he caught her hand and kissed her knuckle. The motion startled her into holding still, seeing just how genuine he was being from his eyes alone.

"Regardless of what you say now, the offer will always be open. Besides, it'll give me incentive to redecorate the place." He grinned, looking around as the wheels in his head already began to turn on the possibilities of what he could do.

" … Grim, not now," Jackie answered with a hard breath. He probably had no idea how badly she wanted to take him up on that offer but it would cause too much trouble, "I have a lot on my plate and I … need to think." She said, rubbing her temples.

"What's there to think about when you already have the answer to the questions you don't even need to formulate?"

"My answer remains the same, Grim," Jackie sighed.

"Boo… well, I would at least advise you to remain here a couple more days for you to heal, but since you are decided on going back then I expect to see you sooner next time. You know to come here if anything happens again." He sweetle grinned.

"You know I will," Jackie said, not wanting to admit it out loud but this place was truly her safe haven compared to that town of hers. She did wonder why she still stayed occasionally but perhaps part of the reason was that she knew they would just find another young woman to deliver the goods, making her suffer all that she has … and she didn't want that to happen. Ugh, curse her and her bleeding heart. "Good bye, Grim. I'll see you in a few days." Jackie said, picking up the baskets and handing him the one with the jostled and bruised fruit inside of it while keeping the empty one for herself.

"Do be careful. You gave that girl the ribbon I prepared for yourself and it'll take me a couple days to prepare a new one." He looked down at the fruit, "and tell them to give me better goods next time. This is just of not good enough quality."

"Right, right. I've survived without the ribbon before and I'll survive again. Besides, I will reach the village before nightfall," Jackie assured, walking out the door and heading back to the village.

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"We are so glad you could make it, Lady huntress. Now, come, take a seat. Is there anything we can get you? Water, wine or a meal perhaps? I'm sure the journey was long and you're eager to rest." The mayor sheepishly offered, appearing rather nervous through his speech and constant shuffling.

Before the overweight and clearly flustered men, the huntress stood with the shadows of the flickering flame dancing over her face. Her entire body was strapped with dark, strong armor covering her all body but the joints, allowing her the utmost flexibility while her vitals were covered from nearly every direction. The perfect protective suit and the many weapons ready against her prey. Bright olive green eyes visible on a stern and serious face. Her reputation preceded her. She had survived wars and fought against humans and non-human foes, always surviving against all odds. The confidence alone of the famous or infamous mercenary and itinerant monster-slayer for hire shook the men's own stability and her presence intimidated everyone in the room. Her eyes portrayed no sense of mercy nor did the weapons looped around her curvy hips or her back.

"Perhaps after we negotiate my services." She calmly suggested, perfectly at ease if not bored. She was the huntress and everyone else was a potential prey.

"Straight to the point then? Very good." The judge agreed with a slight nod of his head, eager to get negotiations out of the way. "Well then, if it pleases you we shall make this meeting brief so that you may rest up in the provided inn." He said before going quiet, allowing the mayor to clear his throat and get ready to speak.

The huntress sized the man. The fat on his throat shook with his throat clearing and his hands were sweaty and chubby, looking almost like a pig intestine shoved full with too much meat. He was well fed to the point of being overweight, far too different from the average villager and it seemed to have been the case for many years judging by his lack of physical condition. His clothes were also newer and of finer making. He was wealthier than he stupidly wanted her to believe.

"Very well, then as per your request we would like to discuss the payment for your services. Being a rather poor town as we are, we can afford to pay you about 800 Shillings." The mayor said, getting right to the point.

The huntress chuckled in a mocking way, her hand setting over her hip "I would take that pocket change for a band of goblins or kobolds running amuck." She looked at the room. I was better build and decorated that the rest of the what she'd seen so far" Not exceptional but not poor either. "I'm only passing through this place. You can hire me to hunt something specific, but for anything bigger or general hunts you could arrange for me to stay a while longer and instead pay for that time and all that hunt during it is included. But for pathetic 800 shielings, you won't get much. I'd stay a couple days at most." She twisted her neck and the cracking of bones was heard. She then smirked seeing the men readjust themselves as they began to think of a counter offer. "Don't mock me, gentleman. State a real deal or else I simply walk away and leave you with your problems. There are many places and people that will pay real money"

"W-Whatever it takes, Ms. Huntress. You see, we called you here when we heard you were nearby, to hunt down a monster which presents a particular danger to us here in the village. In the past we have had our run of the mill with large trolls and other beastly creatures that can be held at bay but this monster is more dangerous than any of us can handle. We have suspicions of a werewolf lurking about our walls and we want you to hunt it down and bring us its head," the mayor explained, nervously twiddling his thumbs, "we are only a town of farmers and few small prey hunters. No one here has the experience needed to capture or face such an elusive beast. Would you be willing to kill this werewolf and spare everyone in this village?" He asked rather meekly but he tried to portray himself as a strong leader, even if he was intimidated by the presence of the legendary huntress. And she was certainly legendary, one of the strongest out there still alive but whether famous or infamous was more open to interpretation as there were some rather dark stories about her. The village, however, was desperate and willing to overlook her questionable kills.

"As long as you pay I hunt, but a werewolf ... that is not cheap and I would need to stay longer than I intended." She crossed her arms and then fixed her gaze on the flames in the fireplace. "Shifters are quite rare nowadays. All their kind will most likely be extinct someday. Still, they are indeed elusive creatures; beasts that can hide under human skin. They are as smart as any human but are driven by instincts. Human concepts of good or bad don't apply to them. Anyone could be one." She looked back at the mayor, her eyes burning as the fire. "I'd have to first get proof there is a werewolf, then find out who it is or set a trap for it." Taking out a bright ballesta bolt from a hidden compartment in her forearm, she showed it under the fire's glow to. "Shifters are strong and regenerate quite quickly. Only silver weapons, alchemical concoctions or magic can deals aggravated damage to them." She explained while showing them the bold before sheathing it again.

The men remained silent for a few seconds and the huntress remained as stoic. By the way the huntress spoke about the topic, it seemed that she had experience with shifters. Her knowledge about them and other creatures was also hardly unparalleled.

"Now, gentleman. If you present a better offer I'll may still be willing to let your offense of such a small sum slide and I may still take this hunt." The Huntress remained calm but could not help but let a faint smirk curve her lips up. Of course she already knew there was a werewolf around. She was here for that same reason. She had been hired by other clients; much higher paying clients. There was no proof that this particular werewolf was _her_ original target but if it was then she could earn a little bit extra. Regardless, now that the town was backing her it would be much easier to negotiate free lodging and food during her stay.

She seemed interested into going ahead and getting the legal things sorted out for these men, something they were relieved to see from the huntress. "You may reside in the town's inn and eat freely; rest assured your housing will be on the town." The judge assured her, hoping to sweeten the deal just as she had predicted. She remained quiet and simply smiled, casting her eyes back to the fumbling mayor.

"We know the werewolf is not anyone of the town. We have not seen any suspicious behavior from any of the townspeople, nor has there been any new faces around here." The mayor explained.

"And what about the Red Hood?" The Treasurer of the town spoke up, his beady eyes needling the mayor, "she is too often in the woods. Who knows what she could have contracted outside of these walls; she most likely still lives if she is a creature of that sort."

"As much as I share your distaste of the Red Hood she could not possibly be this werewolf. She lacks not only the strength but the temperament of one as well." The Judge firmly countered with a stiff frown.

"And how would you know how a werewolf acts?" The treasurer snapped back. He was the most distressed of them all; he had to budget and figure out how to pay the Huntress while maintaining order and legendary hunters weren't cheap to hire.

"If you perhaps read a book here and there you would learn a few things. Werewolves are particularly hot tempered and at the slightest provocation will transform and rip apart the object of their hatred. And since she has not down such a thing like that in the slightest there is no reason to suspect her. If she had then she'd be dead already." The judge pointed out with a sly sneer at the treasurer.

The huntress refrained from rolling her eyes. "Shifters are creatures driven by instinct and want. Any passion is deep and primal, whether it is destroying that which they dislike or they feel threatened about their interest, or claiming anything they feel is theirs." The huntress remained quite aloof and then, out of boredom, inquired, "who is this Red Hood?"

"The Red Hood is the child of the town whore. Our town among with the few others use the Red Hood to bring the witch of the forest tribute every other day now. Before it used to be a week before she disrupted it." The mayor miffed in annoyance, leaning back in his ornate chair.

"A witch?" The huntress rose her eyebrow and shifted her weight on her other foot, "now we're getting somewhere. Speak of this witch. Although I generally don't bother with them, it might provide a good clue about the werewolf."

"The witch is known as Grim Reaper; he is a frightfully powerful witch that lives deep in the most despicable parts of the forest, forcing our towns to put together tribute to give to him once a week. However, since the Red Hood used some supplies on an injured traveler, the witch appeared in the town himself; something he has never done before except once decades ago." The judge explained in a cool tone as the mayor smacked his fist on the table, startling the two men beside him.

"That wretched girl! Now we are forced to put together a basketful of tribute to him every other day, that greedy witch! That stupid girl!" He shouted in an outburst, taking a few, deep breaths to try and calm himself again.

"Yes, well, as much as his presence is unfavorable we have little to no choice than to allow ourselves to coexist with him. He is a witch so powerful we dare not hire a hunter to try and kill him." The judge said with a shaking of his head.

"Witches are still human in their cores. For dealing with them you'd need an Inquisitor." The huntress twisted her head again but in the opposite way to once again crack her bones. "A competent inquisitor, regardless of religion, have ways to nullify a witch's powers long enough to deal with them."

"Of the which we have tried and failed in the past. He set out to the forest and never returned." The judge said with a grave frown, "his name was Fredrick Bullhound."

The huntress chuckled once, then again, and then a melodical laughter came from her moist lips, silencing the three men uneasily when the sound turned into a darker maniacal laughing for a minute before she suddenly stopped as if it had never happened, "Fredrick Bullhound is a well known fraud. If you hired him then you were robbed. I'm surprised he was still alive to keep on his facade, more so using the same name."

"What?" The mayor said, startled by the information, "b-but he came with a whole crew of hunters and officially signed documentation!" The mayor blubbered out, looking more and more angry as his face became a deeper shade of red.

The huntress chuckled again and then pointed at the men one by one "And did you ever check his references? Anyone can sign a paper. You have heard tales of me, you can check by other towns, even the nearby kingdoms and pricipades; but apparently you didn't hear of his fraud or his lack of reputation while in this backwards town. He's been known for quite a while."

"That diabolical trickster!" The mayor shouted as the judge grabbed his shoulder, squeezing rather harshly.

"That was in the past. Now we have the werewolf to deal with for the time being." The Judge reminded him rather harshly.

"And the witch, mind you." The treasurer reminded the two of them.

"Where is that Red Hood now? Where is that ungrateful child?!" The mayor demanded as the Treasurer heavily sighed.

The huntress helped herself to one of the apples on the nearby table as she ignored the show. The fruit was quite fresh.

"The Red Hood is dead, remember?" The judge reminded them rather harshly, "we sent her out into the storm in the dead of night to make amends with the witch."

"Feh. That is if she is not the werewolf herself." The treasurer rather moodily grumbled.

"No … she is dead. No little woman could survive the night." The mayor miffed, leaning back in his chair and appearing rather pleased.

"But what if the witch turned her into a werewolf to torture us?" The treasurer pushed, "would it not be impossible for him to create a monster through that woman? All our troubles center around her so why not this as well?" He growled, clearly suspecting this Red Hood woman rather harshly.

The huntress finished the apple and then walked towards the entrance, now tired of this charade. "That's not how shifters are created." She stood by the entrance. "Not just any person can be changed into a shifter and no small magic would achieve such. However I note that you do want to get this werewolf to be somehow related to this Red Hood person. Is there any reason?" The huntress had a guess. Ignorant and intolerant people in small towns needed to have some scapegoat. That was something the huntress had used on various occasions in her favor to get some human bait.

"Because most of our problems stem from that whore's child. It would be more likely she requested the witch to curse us like this," the mayor cut in with a dispositioned sneer.

"How is that so?" The huntress noticed the animosity in their postures. Her mind starting to paint the picture and how to use this in her favor.

"She was born with a cursed deformity, obviously. It makes her look quite hideous and brings bad luck." The treasurer stated with a huff, sounding quite firm in his conviction.

"I'll have to see that whenever her body turns up, then. If she is as dead as you claim. But I assure that the witch calling a werewolf is laughable. Shifters are extremely proud; they wouldn't let themselves be controlled by a mere witch." She wasn't sure the werewolf and the so called witch were related but it never hurt to check, "but back on track, you still haven't offered a serious payment for my services and I warn you, if you hide any information from me during these negotiations then you'll become my next prey."

"It would be wise not to underestimate him, Huntress." The mayor gulped.

"It would be wiser not to underestimate _me_." She growled, her eyes seeming to lit bright for an instant and her figure looking like an even more dangerous predator than the prey's she hunt. "After all… what is stronger? A dragon or a dragon slayer?"

"You are wrong, Huntress. Forgive me for speaking out of turn but that witch has terrible power about him. He turned me into a newt!" The treasurer snapped, making the Huntress stare rather oddly at him. " … well I got better."

" … regardless, we are sure this werewolf has connections to the witch somehow but we cannot risk angering him in fear of what more he may do to our villages." The Judge said, coughing and regaining everyone's attentions.

"That is something I'll have to check out … If you have the money for it; and I'm sure you do," the Huntress twisted her head to soundly crack her knuckles.

Silence enveloped the room as the treasurer let out a heavy sigh, fidgeting his fingers before turning to her.

"6,000 shillings is the amount our combined towns can pay and even then the townspeople will suffer through the winter without it." The Treasurer said with a tone of warning towards the Huntress.

"Perhaps you can wait for a common band of rogues to accept such low pay and get ripped apart by the wolf if not to run away with the money. The creature would then feel the need to take revenge." She shrugged with a funny smile on her face "What other information are you hiding?"

"We are not hiding any information from you, Lady Huntress," the judge said, interfering and trying to ease the tension in the room, "and we will continue working with the treasurers of the towns to see where we can find some extra influx of money." The judge said, casting a cautious eye over the other two.

"You wouldn't dare draw from our funds as such!" The mayor started but stopped, seeing the judge's harsh glares.

"The wolf will kill us faster than the cold of winter. We will survive just like all the others, mayor. Everyone needs to make their proper sacrifice for the sake of the safety of the village." The Judge said, giving the mayor a hard, knowing look before the mayor backed down with a grumbling sneer, "give us time to figure out a better deal, Lady Huntress. Now, what else do you want to ask of us?" The Judge said.

"Enough of this lunacy!" The mayor shouted, behaving like a child as he suddenly stood up, glaring at the huntress. "6,000 shillings is all you will be able to suck out of our town, you wicked succubus! We farmers and hunters cannot afford anymore without risking not making it through the winter!" He shouted angrily as both the Treasurer and Judge's eyes widened, shocked at his outburst before turning to the huntress for her reaction.

Her silence and calm was scarier than if she had responded the insult. "Very well," without another word the Huntress's hand reached the door.

"Wait-! Simon, you fool!" The judge harshly reprimanded as the Huntress grinned out of sight.

She knew they were hiding more. How could they not know about that well known fraud of Bullhound? She had also noticed that even if this village was remote, it was too old looking for the current times and people seemed too disconnected from what was happening on the world. Not to mention that the rich fields she had passed in her way or the new clothes from these men here denoted they weren't as poor as they claimed. Plus she wasn't even charging extra, 6,000 shillings could maybe cover a hunt of a week for a troll, but a werewolf? Ha.

"Lady Huntress, wait," the Judge said, coming up behind her and dancing in front of her to prevent her from leaving, "please, before leaving allow us to reevaluate the money in our storage. We _will_ pay handsomely for your services. In the meantime, please, stay and enjoy our hospitality at the town inn. In the morning we will have a much more favorable amount to present to you." He said, nervously wringing his hands together.

"I'll accept that hospitality for tonight and I'll give you a chance to present a fair offer tomorrow."The huntress looked at the man in the eyes harshly, making him step back and averting her gaze like a scared animal "But before that, I want you to tell me about the visits of this Red Hood girl to that witch."

"Of course. Ask me anything you'd like to know." The Judge said, being surprisingly compliant as he took another step back.

The huntress stared at the man rather coldly before glancing off to the side, sensing someone fast approaching as the choking sobs of a little girl rang out through the brisk air. "You have a visitor."

Two seconds later a female sobbing was heard. "U-U-Uncle Fergath, U-Uncle Fergath-!" The girl sobbed as she hurried into the building, her eyes locking onto the judge as he turned towards her with a shocked expression.

"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be delivering goods for the witch!" He snapped at her, approaching her as she threw herself into his arms and cried into his shoulder. The harsh eyes of the judge softened a tad as he let out a heavy sigh. "I know it is frightening, Mary, but someone needs to deliver the goods." He said, petting her hair as the huntress simply remained silent and observed the two of them.

"No, no uncle, it's not that! She, the Red Hood, s-she still lives!" The little girl sobbed, hugging the judge tightly before he grabbed her shoulders with his boney fingers, shoving her off and holding her in place.

"What is the meaning of this?! The Red Hood could not have possibly survived that night!"

"She did, she d-d-did-! Look!" The little girl cried, holding up a small red ribbon, "she made me wear this and return!" She hiccuped before the ribbon began to writhe in her hand. The judge quickly grabbed the ribbon, tossing it aside as it coiled into the form of a red snake. With a sharp hiss it lunged at the two of them as the judge held the girl close.

A ballesta's bolt stuck the snake's head in the floor but the snake still twisted. As fast as a blink, the huntress was over it, slicing a knife along it's serious body following its twists to part it in long two perfect sides, then made a new slide to cut of the head. She stood up with the bolt in her hand, the head at it's point, and she walked toward the fire, where she threw the head causing a reddish black smoke to come out of it while the rest of the body, still on the floor, melted, roughly forming puddles over the splintered wood of the ground before floating up into small red orbs into the air. "What a cute trick."

The judge remained tense and alert, glaring at the potential danger as the Huntress remained unmoving.

"What is the meaning of this-?!" Judge demanded irritably, hugging the young frightened girl close.

"A message from the witch, it seems." The Huntress said turning towards the orbs in the air. She grabbed a cloth form the table and cleaned the bolt.

" _HELLO~!"_ The orbs ripples with the loud and cheerful greeting from the witch, making the judge jolt in surprise. " _Thank you so~ much for the goodies you've been sending me! But I really must say,"_ the voice continued before the tension thickened in the air, " _I do not like my favorite messenger being endangered. Have you not heard the saying 'don't kill the messenger?'. Lots of fun wars have started that way, and wars always involve very horrific tales of slow and painful tortures; and those don't even involve magic! Oh well, we can chat later in person if the next tribute that will be brought to me by_ _ **my**_ _favorite red hood is not in concordance with an apology. Cha-cha!"_

The smoke orbs dissolves into nothingness and the huntress groaned. "Quite the show off, it seems. I would suggest that if you contact an inquisitor, have it be from the east. This magic is not from these lands. However, do that at your own risk. Inquisitors are very … hard to deal with themselves."

"Th-That damnable Red Hood-!" The judge hissed, glaring at the fire and the burning body of the spell encased ribbon.

"So ... how long has this girl been delivering things to that witch?" The huntress folded her arms and leaning against the wall. Something in the witch's voice was familiar, not as if she knew she had heard it before, but familiar in a way that related to something she couldn't recall.

"Since she was about the age of 5 years; she's around 19 now." He answered without batting an eye, "that is, if she truly did survive." He pondered, hugging the little girl tighter as she continued to sob in fright and cling to the elderly man.

"Anything else about this girl?" The huntress was getting annoyed by the cries and sobs.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. She lived alone with her mother who is the town's whore, as we said before. The poor woman gave birth to Jacqueline Penske, the Red Hood; she was born with a cursed eye, you see." He said with a shake of his head.

"What makes her eye so cursed? Being born with an abnormality is not so strange." She said with a raised eyebrow.

"But her's is. Her left eye was a very light blue while the other remains a light green. It was rather ugly to look at," he said with a deriving snort, "such an abnormality would be natural if she were to have received it later in life but she was cursed to be born with it."

"Ugly or not, that is as relevant to a curse as a chicken looking to the sky. She may have useful information regarding the woods and the witch." The Huntress said, glancing off to the side in thought. "If she's been making this deliveries for so long she probably knows the terrain well and the creatures that may lurk around."

"I'm sure she does. None of us have dared to travel to the witch's house ourselves; she's the only one who knows where exactly he resides, and travels there on a regular basis. All we know is that it is deep in the woods and is not a pleasant place to be." He warned.

"I am sure I've seen worse. I'll be gone to see the town and its surrounds. For 1,000 shillings I'll tell you all the weak points of the village that need reinforcement and all the proper means to ensure real safety, like taking the fat guard of the door or the big gap the doors have in the little towers window to the right or about how you are storing all your grains in a convenient route for been destroyed." She calmly teased, "tomorrow morning I'll want this girl to take me to the witch's house before you present your real offer."

"The Red Hood isn't scheduled for another tribute tomorrow and putting together a proper apology will take some time. You may have to wait until the next day unless you convince the child otherwise." The treasurer said with narrowed eyes, "if she returns at all."

"She doesn't need to take anything to the witch but only show me the way." The answered with a chilly tone, her gaze setting on the treasurer, who couldn't hold it for more than a couple seconds before looking away.

"If she's willing. I doubt that girl would willingly take a huntress to the house of the witch. Who knows where that wretched child's loyalties lie anymore," he huffed.

"We'll see then." The huntress opened the door and walked out of the room, the crying girl a then running past her to tell the inn to show the huntress proper hospitality.

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Here you go! _**5 reviews**_ to the next chapter~ I love this story a lot haha and I know lots of you do too! What do you think is going to happen next? Leave your thoughts in the review~ until then, Chickadees, read on and enjoy!

Chaos-dark-lord: Hello readers. Yep, seems like we are retaking this story. Believe it or not we have quite a bit planned, so please review to keep Peeko interested in it.


	3. Chapter 3

Jackie mindlessly began her walk back down the path, keeping up a nice, brisk pace. She approached the small wooden bridge which overlooked a decent sized stream, glancing over the rippling waters before noticing a familiar white haired figure. That man … was bathing in the water? She stopped cold in her tracks, watching him dunk his head under the water before coming back up and shaking his head out a little bit. She stood in a dumbed silence, staring at the curves of his back and the firm lines defining his muscular structure before she regained her wits about her.

"Hey!" Jackie called, walking over to the ledge and seeing him twist his head up and see her standing over the bridge. "What are you doing down there? That has to be _freezing_! Stay right there!" She called to him, picking up her pace along the bridge before taking the somewhat hazardous, steep climb down.

He watched without moving as she slowly hung onto the slanted trees for support before stepping onto the rocky shoreline, looking over at him in the water.

"Come on out; if you need to bathe so badly then you can do so at the inn at the village." Jackie said, slipping a bit but managing to catch a tree in time to avoid an embarrassing faceplant. She let out a stiff sigh, getting onto the rocks and brushing herself off before seeing his clothes hanging up and drying. "Come on, let's go. I need to make it back to the village before nightfall so I can guide you there." Jackie called out, standing by his clothes and feeling them. They were a little damp but weren't too bad. They'd dry soon enough.

The man looked at her and then merely walked out of the stream towards her and his clothes without a single sign of embarrassment about his nudity.

Jackie's cheeks touched with pink as she saw him draw closer, realizing he was not wearing briefs or shorts underneath. With a quick turn of her head she set her gaze on his clothes, embarrassed. It wasn't 'proper' for a young lady to see another man's drawers like this; not that she could really help it though. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him step past her, grabbing his pants as she took a quick peek at his firm, full buttocks before looking away again with an embarrassed smile. She peeked. How naughty~

Her gaze studied a pair of military dog tags hanging from a branch. Was this man from the military? The thought puzzled her as she reached forward, gently holding the dog tags in her hand before reading the name.

"Hernz … Hanz … Hans?" She asked, looking over as he reached past her. He paused, glancing at her as she looked up at him. "Hans? Is it Hans?" She asked, not entirely sure. She was never really allowed to read much or learn but what she did know was all thanks to the witch who 'didn't want an illiterate woman delivering his goods to him' so he made her learn how to read. Which, admittedly, has turned out much for the better. However, this was in a slightly different language that she didn't recognize. She just took a wild guess his name would be the largest print on there.

Hans just slightly nodded to her in acknowledgment before stepping past her and grabbing his jacket. She glanced over his strange attire, seeing him in overalls and pants but no shirt, showing off his startlingly impressive muscles. She had to admit she did not think she's ever seen anyone with muscles so well defined. It was almost freaky. A drop of water caught her attention as she looked up at his wet hair.

"Here, you'll catch a cold with that." She said, pulling up the bottom part of her hood to help dry it off as he slipped his jacket on. Her step forward, though, stepped oddly on a protruding rock and made her fall forward against his chest. He didn't reacted in any way other than putting his arm around her, helping to steady her.

"Ow … ," Jackie said, rubbing her nose. That actually hurt. There was hardly any cushion there on his body to have broken her fall. She doubted his muscles even flinched when she fell on him. "Sorry, here." She said, taking off the hood this time and handing it to him. He simply stared at her before he bent his head down, looking over at her rather curiously as she stared at him. What, he was too lazy to do it so he wanted her to do it for him? … normally she'd say no but she peeked at his butt without his permission. It was the least she could do. "Hold still." She said, putting part of her hood on his head before vigorously rubbing his hair. His head did not move nor sway in the slightest, remaining still as stone as if he couldn't even feel her drying her head. She pulled her hood off, letting it drape over her shoulders right before she looked at his wildly arrayed hair and began laughing.

"You look like a porcupine!" She pointed out, her laughing very slowly and awkwardly dying out at the tense silence between them. " … I'm sorry, let me fix that." She said, reaching up and entangling her fingers in her hair. She pulled his head down a bit, combing it out with her fingers and shaping it similar to how it was before she took his hat from him and set it on top. "There you go." She said, giving her 'patient' a clean bill of health. "Now let's go to the village. I'm sure you're pretty cold in those damp clothes." Jackie said, looking back up the steep hill and scanning for an easier place to climb up than the one she almost slid down.

It was a quiet walk, mostly because he was completely silent while she just gave up on asking stuff and merely passed to speak out freely until it was clear there was no conversation going on, which admittedly wasn't so bad. So instead, she simply stayed quiet and enjoyed his presence walking alongside her. It's been a long time since she's walked with someone.

"Hans." She called, strangely liking the way his short foreign name rolled off her tongue. Hans glanced down at her, studying her before she felt a little sheepish. "Now that I uh, know you're name it's only fair you know mine. My name is Jacqueline Penske and I am better known as the Red Riding Hood of the village we are going to. However you can call me Jackie. Or rather think it," she explained with a genuine smile. What was it about this expressionless guy that made her want to smile and compensate for the lack of smiling between them? It was a strange feeling but she felt … happy being around him. It was a strange feeling she wasn't used to but she liked it, regardless.

He made a nodding motion but didn't said anything, finding her attitude strange.

Way too soon for her they arrived to the outskirts of the village and just in time for the last rays of sunlight. "We have good timing. I will show you to the inn here," she offered as she turned around but when she did, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hans?" She called out, startled as she looked around at the forests. "Such a strange guy … ," she trailed off, baffled as to why he would slip away so silently like that. Maybe he was shy? … or the more likely, maybe he was a deserter? She had heard something about some war in the western countries, if that's the case then it was a no brainer as to why he didn't want to be seen. She let out a sigh, a frown returning to her face as the oppressing atmosphere of the village began to cloud around her. And now it was time to return to the place she didn't feel was a home.

As she walked into the village no one dared approach her or ask how she survived or if she's alright. The air was heavy with the fright of the wolf potentially returning at any time. Jackie shivered in fright. Of all the things the village feared the most it was a werewolf. Trolls and goblins were child's play compared to those beasts who could hide among people and were as smart as they were brutal and wild. Normal wolves do not live in the forest; if they did at one point then the other creatures have already eaten them. For a wolf to be here now it meant that it had to be a werewolf; probably one that craved the flesh of men.

Jackie rubbed her arms, trying to will away the goosebumps as she walked past the people with torches patrolling and traveling around in the street. The silence of the village deeply unnerved her as she picked up the pace, hearing a faint brush of air before a hard presence hit her blind eye. She cried out, startled as she looked over at a small group of teenagers that leered in her direction. Tch, troublemakers. These were the same ones that loved to harass her. Jackie picked up her pace, hurrying home.

"Where are you going, whore? You have clients here." He said, grabbing onto her arm and pulling her back.

"Get off me!" Jackie sharply hissed, swinging her elbow around hard and crushing his nose. Normally she would not fight with these troublemakers but the frustrations and anger made her snap. The Red Hood staggered back, glaring at the three of them. "Enough of your harrassing, you inbred brats! Your sister mother is waiting for you, isn't she?" Jackie snarled in anger, frightened of being outnumbered but far too furious to care. She was going to hurt them if they touched her again; her father's dagger glowed warmly against her skin, as though encouraging her to defend herself. She knew deep down she would be blamed for everything that happened but she didn't care; she was sick of them.

"You playing hard? That's bad for a whore," the other one said, "or is it that the witch pays you more than the three of us can afford?"

"If you want sexual relations then take it up with my mother. Otherwise, leave me alone." She stated in a hard hiss, sliding her hand over her hip where her dagger laid against her skin.

"So you are the town whore's daughter? The so called Red Hood?" A dark figure appeared in the back of the alley, light from behind so the figure remained in darkness, her hips moving in quite a voluptuous way as the now female figure approached.

Jackie jolted, startled as she saw the dark figure approaching from the street behind the boys. The three turned around, puzzled as a woman clad in dark armor stepped past them, standing in front of Jackie as she looked down towards her with piercing olive green eyes.

"W-Who are you?" Jackie asked, looking her over in puzzlement, "a warrior?" She asked, seeing her rather advanced weaponry attached over many places on her body; all looking quite heavy but she does not seeming to mind it. Her eyes immediately glued to her swords and the ballesta at poking over her shoulder from her back, her eyes shining over the design of such a beautifully crafted weapons. While Jackie did not like using weapons, being a blacksmith's daughter she knew how to make them and greatly appreciated the works of others whenever she got the chance to see them. And the items this woman was carrying were very fine articles of the highest quality.

"No. I don't waste time fighting as warriors do; I go straight for the kill." The woman said, examining Jackie. "Now start moving. There are places I need you to take me"

"Hey, come on lady, we were here first for the whore." One of the teens complained but none of them dared to approach.

The woman ignored the teens and addressed only Jackie "I heard of who are you. I need your services."

"Hey, we're here get serviced by the whore; go find your own." One of the teens demanded.

"And I told you to go to my mother if you so desire and not to bother me anymore!" Jackie angrily snapped back at him.

The huntress turned around, and in a flash, the distance between she and the guys disappeared. Now she was standing in front of the loudmouthed one, her leather and clawed metal clad fingers extended mere millimeters away from the teenager's eyes. "How much have you paid for this girl's services?"

"H-Holy … ," one of the boys breathed, stiffening up as the Huntress finally addressed them, "w-we were going to pay $37." The boy stammered out.

"And have you made any deal with them, Red Hood?" The huntress's eyes remained fixed on the tenager, keeping him so frightened that he couldn't run away from her gaze.

"Of course not! I am not a whore! I am the Red Hood, the one who makes deliveries to the witch!" Jackie angrily stated, glaring at the three boys as she pulled her hand away from her dagger. She was shocked she was seriously considering stabbing them.

"And $37 is too low for a whore anyways." The huntress kept her gaze on the boy that had just peed himself, "as such, you have no claims on any deal regarding her. Go away now. Your existence is starting to bother me." She pulled her hand back with her piercing glare cutting them to the core, making sharp shivers wrack their spines. Their feet remained rooted to the ground as the Huntress grabbed Jackie's arm, dragging her out of the alley quickly.

"W-Wait, wait." Jackie said, toiling after her as the woman continued to walk away from the scene before coming to a stop and turning to face the Red Hood. Her piercing and almost glowing gaze made Jackie shiver as she took a step back.

"If you run, I will hunt you down." She threatened with a low voice.

"I'm not running." Jackie snapped back at her, glaring at her just as fiercely before her gaze softened. " … thank you." She said, glancing away in embarrassment.

"Tomorrow you will take me to see the witch." The woman said.

Jackie stared at the woman in shock, processing what she said. "Th-The witch?" She said, surprised, "why would you want to meet him?" She asked, unable to fathom why this Huntress wanted to meet with the witch.

"Because I have some questions for him." The woman shrugged, "do you need me to pay for that service?"

"But … no, first, who are you?" Jackie asked, remaining rather rigid.

"Do structure your answers better. But presentations first I suppose" The woman looked at Jackie in the eyes, her gaze cold but not threatening. "I am the huntress"

"Okay … and what do you hunt, Huntress?" Jackie asked, feeling her skin crawl. What if she was hunting the witch? No, that was impossible. The witch was impossible to kill. "You can't kill the witch. He's too powerful."

The huntress raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Have you not heard about me?"

"Should I have?" Jackie asked, puzzled, "this is a small village. Not much word reaches here."

"And yet other people in this town know about me." The woman cracked her neck "For your information, I don't hunt witches. But I do hunt many other creatures as long as I'm paid for it."

"But if you're here … then what are you hunting?" She questioned.

Just as she said that, a wolf's howl was heard in the distance. Jackie's heart stopped, frozen in terror as she turned towards the noise. The mere sound of the howl made her legs root to the ground, terrified. That wolf-?!

The huntress studied the young woman. She was a few years younger than her and clearly deeply frightened by a mere howl. The scent in the air also spoke of fear, thus the huntress concluded this girl was not the werewolf. "I'll hunt whatever I'm paid to hunt. Whatever gets in my way, whatever may give me profit."

"But … _why_ are you here?" Jackie questioned as a cold shiver crawled down her spine slowly. "Our town has little money as it is a-and we're a rather poor town. What would be worth your while here?" She asked.

The huntress chuckled. A cruel smirk curling up her lips. "So you are so poor that your lives are worth nothing to be paid for? Maybe you are poor, but it's clear that the town as a whole is not as poor as you think."

"Why do you come to me, Huntress? I'm only the Red Hood." Jackie said rather nervously but looked the Huntress in the eyes without fear. She hadn't the slightest idea why a hunter would bother confronting her at all for she had nothing to give them that others couldn't.

"Exactly." The huntress approached the the woman, coming to her and meeting her eye to eye, "as I said. Tomorrow you'll take me to the witch and show me the terrains around town. For what I've heard you known them quite well"

"Other hunters know the area quite well. Why do you ask me instead of them?" Jackie asked, honestly curious for her reasoning.

" They won't approach the witch's house," The huntress turned around to leave. "I'll see you outside the inn right after sunrise."

"And if I refuse?" Jackie bravely asked, staring at the back of the Huntress. She was certainly a powerful woman but … Grim was even more powerful. She knew that. However, she did not want to show the Huntress where Grim lived. He might not like that very much.

"You won't." The huntress turned again, her gaze over the eyes of the Red Hood, never blinking nor deviating. More like a predator sizing up a prey, "you have no choice. You will either assist me on your own will or the town and situation won't give you other choice." Her voice was silk smooth, sharp as a knife's edge and cold as steel.

Jackie shivered briefly, staring after the woman uncomfortably. What an intimidating air she held … nothing like the other hunters and people of the village. The look in the Huntress's eyes almost seemed to hypnotize the Red Hood. The Huntress did not look at her as though she were lesser, nor a burden. Her eyes looked different; they looked thrilled and not at all angry with her. After an entire minute Jackie couldn't look into the Huntress's intense eyes and averted her gaze. The huntress smirked and without any more words left Jackie there. With a deep breath Jackie shook off her thoughts, turning and quickly returning home as well. It seemed that tomorrow she'd have an unscheduled meeting with Grim; she briefly wondered how the witch would take that, especially since she's bringing a hunter with her.

The moment Jackie stepped inside of her home she was met with a hard backhand across the face. Jackie stumbled against the wall, startled as she saw her mother drinking again with a long, tired expression as she stared at her with every bit of disappointment she had in her body.

"Why couldn't you have just _died_ out there in the woods like you were supposed to?" She asked in a raspy voice, swishing the alcohol around in the bottle as Jackie slipped past her. Wonderful, now her mother was in one of _those_ moods again.

"I'm the Red Hood, mother; I can't die. I'm the one who delivers goods to the witch." Jackie answered in a rather monotone voice, walking over to the sink and finding some dirty dishes inside of it before she began cleaning them to avoid molding.

"Delivers goods … ha. More like give your body freely to his desires and without getting _nothing_ in return." She groaned, taking another deep swig before exhaling hard, "you'd be a horrible whore who would take the money after the service rather than upfront like a smart whore." She said, emptily staring into her bottle.

"I told you it's not like that. My profession won't be one like yours." Jackie said, scrubbing the dishes before setting them aside to dry on the counter. She silently cursed her terrible luck. What she wanted to be was a blacksmith like her father, to build and create things. However, with her eye as it was and her duty to the witch, it was unlikely she would ever get that chance. Her hand pressed harder against the wooden plate, scrubbing harder in her growing anger. Nothing she did was right … she would never be able to do the things she wanted simply because of her unfortunate birth.

"Like you have any choice, you disrespectful child. What else can you do? You're useless in everything else," her mother moaned in mourning, silently cursing her terrible fate.

"I deliver the tributes from the villages and give them to the witch; that is all I do for him." The Red Hood stated in a rather shaky tone, feeling her emotions beginning to well up. Everyone hated and despised her … why could they not just leave her alone if they hated her so much?

"Liar … I bet you ask him, _beg_ him while sucking him off to curse and burn this village to the ground … I know deep down you want to kill us all," she accused as Jackie looked up into the reflection of the window with a cold expression, staring at her drunken mother.

"I have asked him no such thing." Jackie snapped back in a hard voice, watching her mother's expression change in the mirror from depressed and drunk to sneering rage.

"Then why are my tomatoes dying?!" She screamed, throwing the bottle at her before Jackie ducked down, watching it smack against the window before Jackie backed away carefully, watching her mother glare at her. "Why is my business slowly falling to ruin? Why aren't I married to that rich young man that keeps coming to see me? Why are you plaguing me with these terrible things you wretched curse!"

"Those tomatoes die because you don't water them and your 'clients' might be getting tired of your antics." Jackie was tired of her mother's charades. She was tired of her own mother hating her like this; she was tired of being used and thrown aside like a dirty rag, especially when she did so much for the village but received nothing in return.

"I BIRTHED YOU! I shouldn't have to deal with your curses! Did I ask to born a child with a cursed eye?! Did I ask to live in the same house with that bloody child that brings me nothing but misfortune?! I should have drowned you right after I birthed you!" Her mother irately shouted. "At this rate, that Badrick won't even take you, leaving me with nothing but the clothes on my back!"

The woman shouted as Jackie stayed away from her, feeling an inner rage bubble and simmer deep inside of her. She wanted to hurt her. Jackie wanted to hurt her mother, no, this _woman_ like how she has hurt her for all these years. But something held the Red Hood back; she didn't want to step down to their level, the level of the town where they mindlessly attacked her. Where they refuse to understand or try to tolerate her. She has done the best she could for _years_ and this is what she gets? An abusive mother? A horrible town who hates her? If anyone should be angry it should be her, the Red Hood.

Jackie turned to leave before she was tempted to do something she'd regret. The hard hand of her mother grabbed her arm, ripping her back.

" _DON'T YOU IGNORE ME, YOU CRETIN!"_ Her mother shrieked before Jackie, on utter impulse with the strength of which she could hardly comprehend, whipped around and brought her elbow down hard over her mother's cheek. The woman stumbled back with a small scream, cupping her cheek as she looked up at her with genuine shock, horror and fright mixed into her face. Jackie stood trembling over her with all the rage over the years broiling in her gut.

"If you so much as touch me again … speak to me again, breathe near me again, _mother_ ," Jackie venomously snapped, her lips twitching in her sneering anger, "I'll find a way to sick that wolf demon after your saggy, wrinkly ugly hide." She threatened, honestly wishing, _praying_ even that somehow Grim lied about not being able to control the demon wolf but she knew Grim spoke the truth earlier.

As she said that, a howl was heard in the distance.

Her mother's lips trembled as she began to scream in her drunken fear, holding her bottle close as she wailed. Jackie's own heart squeezed and trembled, frightened at the close proximity at the howl but tried to remain strong. That … was startlingly good timing.

"No … no, no you _wretched daughter of mine_ -! I fear no wolf! You have no power, you weakling! You are nothing, and you will always _be_ nothing!." She screamed, standing up again as Jackie stared at her with a heavy heart, feeling her own honest, severe loathing before the mother regained her composure and glared at her. "I have no daugher."

"And it seems I have no mother." Jackie said before turning, returning to her room with a terrible weight in her chest. That howl … that awful howl sounded so close and resonated so deeply inside her that she had the most ominous feeling something terrible was soon going to happen.

 **MWMWMWMWMWMWMWWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW**

On top of the walls surrounding the town were citizens with snipers and guns, more so than other days. Jackie uneasily stared up at the people working to protect the town from the unease the wolf's presence has caused. She knew all of them were and they weren't hunters; most were just farmers. Her gaze softened as she cast her eyes downward. Would Badrick be back from his trip soon? Jackie rubbed her arm, feeling uneasy. Her mother was right about one thing; if living at her mother's house wasn't working out then she could simply ask to move in with her future husband. Badrick and her … hadn't been able to tie the knot. They tried for some time but each time they tried something came up and they ended up pushing it off a while longer. To be honest she was glad they continued to push it off. She, well, she didn't particularly like him in the way many other wives felt towards their husbands. He was kind but she felt like he was trying to marry her almost out of pity and she didn't want that. Was she lonely? Of course she was. No matter what it boiled down to, though, she did not love him. However, he was the only one willing to accept all of her; how selfish of her to be so picky.

She shook away her unease before heading into the orchard protected by the large wooden protecting the town from the run of the mill trolls and theives. Hardly a soul was in sight as she walked through the trees, collecting apples and some berries for that morning's breakfast. A stiff poke against her shoulder made her jolt, startled before she whipped around, expecting the terrible trio of teens but instead came face to face with a white muzzle.

Her heart skipped a beat as she froze, refusing to move an inch as the massive wolf's crimson gaze remained fixated on her and her alone. Her legs trembled as she refused to move from where she was, having a terrible feeling that it would rip her head off at the slightest movement. This … beast, this creature. What was this beast doing inside the walls?

Her breathing trembled as it tapped its snout against her shoulder, baring its teeth slightly and sniffing her shirt. She held absolutely still as it nudged her and circled her, skimming its snout just over her clothing with its jaws cracked open before its tail flipped around and hit her. She stumbled back against a tree's trunk, staring long and hard at the animal as it stared back at her with its ears swiveling around. She dared not to make any sudden movements at all; running would be futile, she knew that.

But why wasn't it attacking? It was just staring at her, doing nothing else but just _staring_ at her with a menacing aura thickening the tension in the air. The wolf demon drew nearer, tapping its snout against her leg as it trailed its cold nose upwards. Why wasn't it attacking her? It was just sniffing her? Perhaps the scent of the witch was holding it at bay? That reason was the only one she could think of that sounded reasonable to explain its odd behavior.

It's head flicked up, startling her as it lifted its head between her legs and took a sniff. Her cheeks slapped with red as she fell back and off with a small shout just before she threw the basket at it and began running as an involuntary reaction. No sooner had she turned its massive paws almost grabbed her shoulder, frightening her as it fell forward over her. She covered her face and tried to curl into a ball but its paw pressed against her chest and forced her to uncurl. Its teeth bared as she looked up, shaking in fright as it leaned in with curled lips. Before she could utter a scream its tongue slide up her cheek, paralyzing her with fright.

Jackie laid on the ground trembling in fear, feeling its tongue slobber over her face and neck, its teeth grazing over her skin as the creature nipped at her shirt. She could not for the life of her understand why it was … well, _bathing_ her.

"S-Stop," she weakly whispered, trying to worm back but its barred teeth pressed into her skin, giving a silent warning to not move before it licked her arms were bruises had already begun to form from the beating a few nights ago in the town hall. Rather than trying to move now she laid motionless on the ground, trying to calm her breathing with all her might. For some reason it was not attacking her so if she perhaps remained still and calm, would it leave her alone?

A sharp ripping made her jolt, watching as the beast ripped apart her shirt and corset before resuming its licking now against her bare skin. With forced, slow and shaky breathes she refused to move, staying still before she closed her eyes. Staring at the creature only frightened her more. At any moment it could end her life … but it wasn't. It didn't. For whatever reason, death has decided only to tease her rather than taking her life so quickly.

As the suffocatingly quiet air seeped into her lungs at a painstakingly slow but shakily constant flow, she felt the warm touch of human lips below her right breast. Her breathing hitched, steadily becoming more frightened. This creature had reverted back to its human form. While she wanted to know its face, to know and memorize the human mask of this murderer, she found herself too frightened to look at the beast in human skin. Instead, she remained quiet, and kept very still despite the uncontrollable shaking wracking her body.

The strange presence lingering over her skin left but she still sensed the beast nearby, daring not to open her eyes just yet. Her skin beneath her right breast burned and ached, making her tremble harder in fright. Had it ripped off a chunk of her flesh that in her fear, she had not noticed the pain? What was causing that burning? Too frightened to move and look at the inflicted wound, she continued to remain still and concentrate on her breathing.

While she held still the wolf stared at her, still unable to understand why he had not moved on to some other place or some other prey. Something here was keeping him connected to this woman but he didn't have any idea how or why. He leaned down, baring his fangs over her skin and listening to her heart trying to leap from her chest to greet him. If he killed her, would he be able to leave? With a brief short he pulled back a small ways before touching his nose to her lips. He felt no desire to kill her though he knew he should; and yet he could not bring himself to take her life; not until he knew why her presence prevented him from leaving. After a brief moment of pondering he left, taking her ripped clothes with him for they held her scent, which were calming to his otherwise dulled senses.

Silence enveloped the orchard for what felt like hours before she dared to take a peek, finding the demon had left. She laid on her back, topless and trembling as she stared up into the sky. I-It … could have eaten her so easily. So, so easily. But it didn't. Why? Was it … savoring her fear? Wanting to slowly observe the Red Hood fall into a pit of despair and madness before finishing her off? Unlike other creatures who liked to kill humans immediately, was this perhaps one of the more dreaded demons that likes to savor the kill? Why … why didn't it kill her? She frowned now in sadness. Was she so filthy and hated that even a dreadful werewolf would not kill her?

A loud whistle caught her attention, coming from near the entrance of the orchard. That whistle belonged to Badrick; he was calling for her but she dared not move. She couldn't bring herself to call out for him either.

"Jackie? Where are you? I have some goods from the lands over the mountains for us to try." He called, waiting a few moments before pleasantly tacking on, "are you planning for me to track you down? Very well, I'll play your game," he teasingly called with a laugh.

She waited. Her mind was trapped in the impossibilities of what had just happened only moments before. Silence enveloped the orchard as Jackie's lower lip stiffened up, trembling in fright as tears budded in her eyes. She was scared; so very, very frightened. Grass crunched under footsteps as Jackie slowly rolled onto her side, hugging herself and trembling in fright. Even as he drew near she did not speak, instead allowing silent frightened tears to slide down her cheeks.

"I have you now-," he started, pausing by the tree as he spied her bare back. His eyes widened, realizing she was crying in fear and not snickering as he thought she was earlier. "Jackie, what happened?" He asked, quickly coming to her side and looking over her seemingly fresh wound hardly a day old. "Jackie, tell me. Who did this to you?" He asked, gently grabbing her shoulder as she hugged herself closer, now crying a little harder now that she was in the safety of his presence.

"B-B-Badrick, I-I'm so frightened-!" She cried, turning around and quickly hugging him before breaking down in tears, a side of her she had never shown him before. He hugged her back, confused and bewildered as he held her closer. His eyes turned over her bare back, staring at her fresh skin without a hunt of her top to be found anywhere, nor footsteps. Her pace, as he tracked her, was calm and precise with the shortness of her stride without the tracks of other men nearby. Did she perhaps wander here after trying to earn a little extra money? Whatever the reason, she was frightened and as a man he could not bear to leave her like this.

" … Jackie, did a man do this to you?" He asked quietly, letting her hide her face in his shoulder. She cried harder, too frightened to answer as she tightly clung to him. He looked around, trying to see if there was a lingering presence of a man anywhere. He should have suspected that she would try to earn money as a whore while he was gone. However, seeing her reaction now it must have ended badly. After all, no man would treat a woman with a cursed eye with respect. But even despite that unsightly defect he still liked, perhaps even dared to say loved her.

"I was so scared, Badrick, so scared-! I-I-It was huge, a demon-!" She gasped, shuddering against him as his eyes narrowed. As much as he loved her he didn't want to hear about any man's 'monster' other than his.

"Jackie." He said, cupping her cheek and pushing her head up. Her lips were touched with his warm mouth as he gently kissed her, running his fingers through her hair and holding her firm while her legs remained shaky.

"B-Badrick!" She gasped in fright, knowing her expression had to be rather atrocious at the moment. Did he not care she was frightened out of her wits? Why was he kissing her at such an inopportune time such as this? He tilted her head to the side and kissed her cheek, forcing her attention on him.

"If you wanted to learn the touch of a man you need only ask me." He said, pecking her on the lips before letting her go. She blinked, puzzled by his words as he shuffled his jacket off and set it around her shoulders.

"Th-Thank you, Badrick." She said, grateful towards his kindness. However, somewhere in the back of her mind she thought he must have misinterpreted whatever happened. That alone brought her some alarm but before she could speak again he kissed her, surprising her as he held the jacket together.

"Cover your indecent self. You can recover at my residence." He said, kissing her brow before righting himself. Jackie blushed and quickly buttoned the jacket, feeling nervous. At his residence? … but then again, being with him is favorable in comparison to being with her mother at her own house. She didn't want to see her at all.

"Alright." She said, walking beside him as they left the orchard with him being a stride ahead of her.

"How shameless, walking around with her lover's jacket on." A voice miffed, making her tighten her grip on the jacket as she concentrated on staring at the back of Badrick's vest.

"A whore just like her mother. Consummation before marriage is repulsive." Another elderly woman miffed.

"Suits a reclusive girl like her. What else could she possibly do other than offer her body up for service?"

"True shame but every town has its whores." Two older woman chatted as Jackie shivered, walking a little fast so she would be next to Badrick. How … could they think of such a thing? She was just attacked by a demon wolf and they could only think that she was selling herself to someone in the orchard? … but … but even if she said something, no one would believe her. Badrick would have noticed any tracks and said something about them but he said nothing. She was too frightened to look at all. She sucked in a fast breath. Did Badrick think that as well?

"B-Badrick, in the orchard-," she started, gently grabbing his arm before seeing his cold gaze glance down at her.

"I will be honest, Jackie, I am very upset." He said, surprising her.

"A-At what? You don't honestly believe what they're saying, do you?" She asked, mortified. Of all people she did not want Badrick believing it too. She was not a whore at all, she was still a virgin unlike half the unwed women in this town; she was perfectly clean for marriage!

"I won't say what I believe because what's done is done." He said, with a firm frown, clearly upset before letting out a deep sigh, looking back to her with softer but tired eyes. "Let us rest; I came to spend time with my wife to be, not argue." He said, gently holding her head before kissing her temple.

" … yeah, I've missed you too." Jackie hesitantly said with a genuine smile. She reached for his hand, wanting to be held by his warmth but he twitched his hand away, pretending to observe the quality of his glove and only returned his hand to his side when she pulled back her own. He was definitely upset … she would have to make it up to him somehow for sure.

Jackie silently followed behind him with her head slightly lowered, feeling abashed by the misinterpretation of what had happened. She could not bring herself to tell him, however. Now … just simply did not seem like the right time. A slight pain twinged against her ribs, making her grimace as she placed her hand over the hot spot the best had touched. Even now she could still feel that monster nearby, watching her. The thought sent a shiver down her spine as she picked up her pace, walking closer to Badrick.

They approached the rather small and modest hunting cabin by the outskirts of the town; it was rather empty, holding only the necessities. Most of Badrick's things were in two towns over where it was easier for him to sell his kills rather than here. This cabin was mostly only used when he needed to replenish stocks of furs and other goods.

Badrick stepped ahead of her, opening the door to his cabin for her as she stepped inside. Before he entered he looked back into the street, feeling uneasy for some reason but only found the usual leering eyes of the villagers. What was that chill that went down his back just then? The feeling unnerved him as he stepped inside, taking off his jacket but kept his holster and gun with him. He's learned to trust his instincts but to be feeling such a thing here in the town was chilling to say the least.

"Did you get all of these from your travels?" Jackie asked, surprised as she saw the numerous animal skins and other goods he must have gotten through trading with his father. It appeared his cabin was not empty today; how unusual.

"Yes. I hunted them myself," he said with a proud smile, walking over and casting the pelts an uncaring glance, "this trip was rather boring but we met our quota for the coming winter but I will be hunting over the next few weeks here in shorter trips." He noted before looking outside at the trees, "the leaves are already beginning to change here."

"The trees are very beautiful on my walks. I wish you could see them with me." She smiled as she brushed her hand over the furs and tried to place names to them from what she's learned.

"I as well but I have other responsibilities here in town now that I've returned." He said, letting out a tired sigh as he took off his shoulder pad and gloves, enjoying the freedom of movement without the restrictive armor.

"Are you planning to trade most of them for meat? Or the same as last year and sell them to families?" Jackie asked, trying to normally come up with small talk. She was getting nervous now especially since he thought she actually did something with a man in the orchards.

" … you are being evasive, Jackie. It's unlike you to be like this," he pointed out with a disappointed smile, "be honest with me, Jackie. Who made you a woman out in the orchards?" He asked, being his naturally blunt self as Jackie's eyes widened before narrowing angrily.

"I knew it! You believed those bickering old women. Badrick, I did nothing of the sort while in the orchard," Jackie argued, "I was attacked!"

"By who, Jackie, _who_?" He demanded, wanting to know the name of supposed man who 'defiled' his future wife.

"Not a who, a _what!_ I was attacked by that demon wolf in the orchard field!" Jackie hotly explained with a fierce glare. His expression twisted rather angrily as he firmly grabbed her arm.

"Do not lie to a hunter, Jackie. For one thing there are no wolves in these forests nor were there tracks near you!" He said, thinking he caught her red handed but the stubborn woman refused to admit what she was actually doing.

"Badrick, I'm honest! While you were gone a demon wolf has made itself known somewhere near this village. The guards have been doubled and, and Badrick, how could you not have heard of this?" Jackie asked, having a hard time believing that no one told Badrick, one of the best hunters in the nearby villages, about the werewolf.

" … do you lie?" He asked, coming closer as his eyes clouded with doubt.

"I speak the truth." She said in a hard voice. He studied her honest gaze before he looked away, seeming to be deep in thought.

"What sort of demon wolf?" He asked, gently rubbing her arm where he had gripped a tad too harshly.

"I don't know. I … I-I saw it once before on the way to the witch's house and once again in the orchards." Jackie explained as his face appeared to pale.

"Have you told anyone?" He asked, looking her over in shock.

"I hadn't the time since you dragged me off." She said as he let her go, seeming worried.

"Then it could still be in the village. Stay here and do not leave. You'll be safe here." He said, pulling her into a quick hug before gathering his things quickly. He knew his instincts were never off; that werewolf was now inside the town and probably aiming to kill more people. He needed to alert the other hunters and start searching for it; that is, of course, if he found tracks in the orchard. If not then it would confirm his fears that his intended wife has been bucking around with the other men of the village to try and take up a decent paying profession.

"Be careful, Badrick. This demon wolf is nothing like what you've faced before." Jackie warned as he grabbed her elbow, stepping in as he kissed her. Jackie paused, eyes open in surprise as he emptily stared right back at her through the kiss before pulling away with a snarky smirk.

"It's the wolf that needs to be weary. Rest, Jackie. I'm sure your day has been long." He said before leaving.

As Badrick left the house, he slowed his steps. His hair stood up on ends, feeling an almost overwhelming presence nearby. The air was thick with this presence of the likes he had never felt before. He kept his eyes sharp, looking every which way but found nothing out of the ordinary. He was getting too paranoid; first he had to verify if she spoke the truth or not about this so called wolf attacking her in the orchard. He picked up his pace, heading towards the orchard to track down this beast.

Jackie heavily sighed as she sat in the cabin, quietly hugging herself. She did not want Badrick to think badly of her; she quite liked him, although he could be too aggressive at times. She grimaced and gently rubbed her arm where he had grabbed her a bit too roughly. The thought of the wolf wracked her mind, nearly making her break down in frightened tears before she suddenly sprang up with a huff, deciding to busy herself with organizing the cabin. She couldn't let that wolf frighten her so much. Only sloppy things would come from her panic. So instead, she walked about the cabin and lit some scented candles, opening the windows to get rid of the stale air before she got to work and began organizing the furs by what animal they were.

As she began separating the furs into piles and organizing them she felt a sharp shiver shoot up his spine. Her breath hitched as her chest burned almost feverishly, making her stop her work. Was it here, perhaps? She turned about the cabin, finding nothing out of the ordinary before looking out of all the windows but found nothing once more. Her paranoia was beginning to eat away at her, making her more and more uneasy the more she thought about it. She deeply frowned and uneasily returned to her work, remaining rather tense throughout before there was a knock at the window.

"Badrick, have you returned?" She called, eagerly hopping up and bounding over to the window. She was eager to have company with her, even if they were having a bit of a spat. She briefly wondered why Badrick would knock at the window but in her excitement she quickly opened it but instead of finding her fiance, she found the chest of a tall man in the green trench coat. Her eyes widened, startled as she looked up at his ruby colored gaze. "Oh, Hans." She said, feeling her heart flutter slightly as she stared at him. She was too shocked to ask how he got to town or why he was there at her fiance's house, but here he was, stoic and unemotional as ever.

The man got his hand on his pocket and then pulled it out to present a small yellow chicken to Jackie.

Jackie blinked, started to see such a tiny fragile chick being held oh so gently by his hand. "A-A chick?" She asked, perplexed not only by his presence at Badrick's home but his gift as well.

The man tilted his head sideways and then gracefully jumped through the window, landing quite silently inside before taking a few steps towards her and leaving footprints all over.

"Oh-! Hans, you got mud all over the floor!" Jackie cried out, startled at the mess he made before looking about the house for a rag to use.

Once more, Hnas stood in front of her presenting the chick as if it was a gift of sorts.

Jackie ceased her search, finally paying the little chick some attention. More than touched, she was confused as to why he brought it to her. "What is this chick for?" She asked before spying some movement behind him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Badrick returning from the orchard towards the house. Her eyes shot opened with a sharp gasp of fright, suddenly realizing what Badrick would think of this. He would be walking into the house to see a strange man he knows not of next to her.

"H-Hans-! Quick, out out out! Don't step on the rug, out!" She cried, pushing him along the side of the wall towards the back door but he did not budge an inch. Instead, he only stared at her before once more holding the chick out to her. "Hans, please! This is no time for games. My fiance will think badly of you if he sees you here," she quickly explained, glancing out the door and seeing Badrick stopped in the path, listening to a woman wildly exaggerating her arms and pointing to the house. Jackie gasped, mortified. That sneaky woman must have seen Hans hop through the window! "Hans, quickly please! I-I promise to make up for this later, but please just go!"

Hans tilted his head and look out, letting out some weird noise that seemed something between a huff and a whimper. He looked down at the small chicken his hand before leaving it on the floor. His crimson gaze turned back at Jackie who had already started to clean the muddy prints with a spare rag. Finding his presence was unwanted at the time being, he let out a faint exhale of air before a white mist cloaked his presence. Faster than the Red Hood could intake a breath, he was already gone without leaving any other trace of being present.

"Hans, please I'm begging you-," she started to say before noticing he was gone. Alarmed, she looked about the house in a small bit of panic before quickly hiding the rag and grabbing the chick. "H-Hans, are you still here?" She barely had time to ask before the door burst open.

"Jackie! You all right?!" Badrick flung the door open with his shotgun in hand, ready to fire as it was held up. The sudden intrusion startled her as she quickly leaned away from him with a hand over her frantically pounding heart. Had Hans simply hidden in one of the closets? She had no idea where he went or if he was hiding.

"W-Whatever do you mean, Badrick?" Jackie asked, trying to sound genuine in her surprise but found it lacking.

"A neighbor told me she saw a shadow slip in through the window, not someone from the town so maybe a thief. Did you see anyone?" Badrick began reaching every possible hiding place but finding no one, so he checked again.

"N-No, I haven't. I was organizing your f-furs. Is that alright?" She asked, unsure of he had a certain order to them before now that she thought of it.

Badrick looked at her and let out a sigh. "Well, the only order I use is for their species, so no need to do that. But maybe that neighbor was wrong. She said a shadow or mist and couldn't tell anything more, so maybe she's under some spell or ate the wrong mushroom""

"I suppose? Although Ms. Umbrigge has always been a bit odd, hasn't she?" Jackie nervously laughed, quite uncomfortable by how she was almost caught. The thought pulled her up short. Caught? She wasn't almost caught doing anything so why was she so nervous? She had nothing to be ashamed of for she had done nothing wrong. And yet, why does it feel as though he betrayed Badrick somehow? Perhaps, in her heart, she already knew she betrayed him but in what aspect she did not know.

"Maybe, but what if she did see something?" He looked at her a bit annoyed for no reason at all that he could explain. "Maybe I should still go check if there are some footp.."

Before he could speak a word, Jackie found herself suddenly blurting out, "o-oh! Badrick, I'm sorry I cannot stay longer but I must go; I have to guide the Huntress to the witch's house today." She explained, beginning to look for something to cover her top more decently.

Babrick stopped his trail of thought. "They hired a monster hunter?"

"Yes. It surprised me too. She's quite … uh, I don't know how to say it." Jackie heavily sighed, rather annoyed with the huntress.

"Wait.. You surely don't mean _the_ Huntress, do you? The one who exterminated the plague of hob-goblins at Sur-frad, the one who killed all the giants in the battle for the castle of Ver-duh, the same one that has caught and defeated from griffins to krakens!? They say she's also murdered men, monsters and demons alike in many battlefields, holding no alliance to any kingdom-"

"I haven't the slightest idea nor do I care. They only call her the Huntress; I don't know much else about her." Jackie honestly admitted with a frown, cutting him off right then and there.

The man shook his head. "Well dont worry. There's no way a person like that could be here. There are no big preys for someone like that all the way out this parts."

"Who knows." Jackie sighed before looking about the cabin, "Badrick, do you mind if I borrow a shirt?" She asked with a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks, rather embarrassed to wear a man's shirt but she didn't have much of a choice.

He looked her up and down, "oh, sure" approaching his closet he got out a shirt, nothing special but also not old or poor either. "You can keep it."

"Thank you, Badrick." She said, turning her back to him before taking off the blanket and putting on the shirt. It seemed she'd be without a bra today; she had no more at home and would have to make one after guiding the Huntress. "I will see you later, Badrick," Jackie said, hesitating before gently kissing his cheek. "Thank you, Badrick." She softly smiled before leaving the residence, feeling awfully guilty.

 **MWMWMWMWMWWMWMWMWMWMWWWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW**

In the tavern, just as the huntress finished her last bite of bread, the Red Hood stepped into the doorway, and called for her. Her voice shuddered partway through, noticing the large audience around the Huntress. An audience of which glared at her in return.

"I-It's time, Huntress." Jackie said, looking uneasy and as if she wanted to escape now that she realized the room was filled with the other men. She wanted to tell them about the wolf in the orchard but … but Badrick was handling that. Now all she needed to do was guide the Huntres to the witch's house. With a thick ball in her throat she sealed her lips up tightly, determined to keep such things to herself.

The Huntress ignored her while addressing the men. "Very well gentlemen, I'll give you more time to think on your proposal. I'll listen to your final offer once I'm back. If I kill anything I'll bring it back as well."

"I should remind you, Red Hood, to remember your place." The mayor stated in a hard voice as Jackie turned her sadness turned glare in his direction. She really did hate him. She hated most of the people in this room, especially the mayor himself. Her skin crawled and stomach churned with disgust each time she saw him. Her fingers tightly clenched, not realizing all of her anger was pointedly glaring at the mayor himself until his face twisted in hideous disgust.

"Don't you dare look at us like that, you low class swine!" The mayor sneered, walking up to her quickly. Jackie backed away just as fast glaring at the man more hatefully. She wanted to hurt him. She wanted to hit him just as they had hit her many times before. The moment he was close enough, she was going to smash his throat in before running to the donkey.

A knife came flying right in front of the treasurer and got stuck in the wall. The huntress then approached the wall to rip her knife out of the wood and shield it back in her forearm while the men looked at her with a pale face. "If she gets a concussion she might be unable to properly guide or show the terrain." The Huntress looked at the treasurer's eyes and the man blinked before averting his gaze.

"What would it matter, concussion or not? Her mere existence is hardly doing anyone any favors." He hissed with gnashing teeth.

The huntress looked at the mayor. "I'll be leaving now. Have a serious offer for when I come back."

The mayor grabbed the wrist of the Red Hood. "Listen well! You better do all the huntress tells you to; you are disposable." He then drew close to speak in the girl's ear, making her shudder in disgust from the pig's foul breath crawling over her skin. "Entertain her, give your body to her if needed. I'll pay you and may even allow you favor. After what you did that time I'll reconsider again to use your services and pay you well like I offered you when you were younger and cuter."

"You and that scar should know my body is not for sale." Jackie hissed back at him with a defiant glare.

"Let my guide go already, Mayor. I'll omit what you just said but I'll remind you that engaging with kids has a higher penalty than fucking a goat around this lands." The huntress grabbed the pouch of food that had been prepared for her earlier on, and walked out the inn towards the entrance of the town as if she hadn't heard anything.

"The Red Hood is the child of the whore; she does not hold the same rights." The mayor spoke, seeming shaken the Huntress was commenting on his words he thought he spoke quietly.

"She does under the lands of this country. I don't care, but I'm sure the new prince does, he's quite keen on making all the lands 'civilized'." The huntress shrugged.

"What do you care, Huntress? You are here to kill the beast in the forest and that is what you will be paid. Nothing more, nothing less." The mayor said with a slight tremble to his voice.

"I don't care. But I want to leave already and if you keep grabbing her she can't show me the way to the witch's house. And don't speak about beasts so lightly when not even animals fuck the young of their packs."

Jackie ripped her hand from the mayor's grasp, shuddering as her stomach quivered with the added advantages of the mayor to top off the horrendous morning she had. From surviving an encounter with the dreaded werewolf to Badrick thinking she was selling her body, things were only going to get worse when the Huntress met the witch. The Red Hood quickly followed after the Huntress, looking back for a brief moment with a shiver crawling down her spine at the glares the men gave her. She clenched her teeth, walking ahead of the Huntress and eager to leave.

They reached the entrance where a donkey was filled with the tribute for the witch and, without looking at the young boy holding the donkey, Jackie grabbed the reigns and yanked it from his hands before walking straight out of the gate which opened wide to let the Red Hood and Huntress leave.

"Are you so weak that just a mere grab on your wrist leaves your skin red?" The huntress asked.

The Red Hood did not speak, finding her churning stomach too much to hold down any longer. From the werewolf encounter to Badrick to the mayor's disgusting offer-! Jackie's hand flew over her mouth, holding back the disgust before she dashed over to the bushes and upheaved her horrible stress over the vegetation. The donkey calmly nibbled on grass from the side of the road as the Huntress watched.

"Yes, that man is quite gross and fat, although he is the mayor." The huntress rose an eyebrow at the other female

Jackie finished and spat out the rest of the taste, taking her water and rinsing out her mouth a few times before coughing and taking a few moments to right her breathing. "That's not … why." Jackie quietly shivered, her arms trembling. She could feel her life slowly start to unravel; no one cared and no one wanted her. No one but the witch. Jackie paused in her thinking, biting her lip and trembling harder. No one but the witch wanted her around. Even though he was a witch and was a terrible man, he was the only one she could rely on to help her. She's rejected his help so far but how much longer could she hold out? Becoming a master at alchemy … perhaps that _was_ the only way out of this terrible situation. The thought of such a thing further disgusted her but she choked it down. She was going to have to finally swallow her pride as a human being and accept the witch's offer at some point if she wanted to continue living.

"You done vomiting?" The huntress continued walking, not bothering to look back as the Red Hood shakily grabbed the reigns of the stubborn donkey and caught up to her, using the donkey to support herself.

"Hey … mhh ... t-thank you, but why did you stop him?" Jackie shakily asked, coughing and collecting herself. The Red Hood was deeply confused as to why this woman would help her. It's not like a couple punches to the head would inhibit her from guiding the way.

"Why didn't _you_ stopped him?" The woman shot back, examining the contents of her food bag. "Didn't you listen, girl? I want you to lead me around and you seem so weak that one hit could give you a concussion and mess with your brain." The huntress took an apple and ate it, not bothering to look at Jackie. "I want you fresh to move around on the terrain. You don't seem capable to follow my pace and I don't want you slower than you probably already are."

"I'm not that weak." Jackie snapped back at her, grabbing the reins of the donkey before ushering it forward, angrily gritting her teeth. She really did have no choice; she was going to have to accept the witch's offer. Her anger slowly melted in sadness, feeling herself on the verge of frustrated tears before, with a deep breath, she suppressed it and began tugging the skittish donkey along without another word.

"If you were strong you would have stopped him yourself. Why do you let them treat you like s***?" The huntress shrugged before stretching her arms and then cracking soundly her neck.

"I was going to." Jackie snapped back at her and saw something move under the Huntress's jacket.

"Were you? What would you have done? What would you have done afterwards, huh?" The huntress noticed the movement in her clothes and opened it down to below breasts level. A small furry head of a young fox came out and looked around.

"I-I was going to run." She said, staring at the little fox's head in confusion.

"Really? With no items or money? Where? With the witch?" The cute fluffy little fox looked at the red hood and tilted his head before looking up at the huntress, who scratched his head a bit before opening her jacket a bit more and the fox climbed toward her shoulders where he stretched like a scarf before nuzzling the huntress cheek while keeping an eye on the other girl.

"Just … anywhere … anywhere but here." She breathed with downcast eyes, clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth and making the donkey keep up with her.

"A good decision but a bad plan." The huntress grabbed the little fox and set it on the ground so it could run away, which he did as the Huntress keep on walking.

"Why are you letting the fox run away?" Jackie asked, unsure if it was a pet or if the Huntress had a surprising weak spot for animals.

"He'll catch up once he stretches and relieves himself." The huntress answered, pausing in thought, "unless he chases a butterfly or stops to smell flowers or something just as silly."

"What sort of pet is a fox? If he is a pet at all?" She asked, curious. It was the first time she had seen a fox as a pet, especially surprising was that it was so young but apparently already trained.

"Sort of. At least he serves as a warmer when the weather is cold. Anyways, tell me about the terrain, the creatures that are around this place, animals or else."

"Oh … alright." The Red Hood said, clearing her throat and began explaining the terrain.

To the North, East and West were mountains always covered in snow. The village was in the forest within the valley, filled to the brim with trees. The less mountainous area to the South is better passable but had many thieves; wildlife was plentiful and much of the part untouched by people; however, that also meant there were many dangerous creatures in the woods such as trolls, ogres, goblins, the witch, wyverns, and even more kinds that would be a treasure trove for any skilled hunter but deadly for anyone else.

"Wyverns!?" The Huntress looked at Jackie with an incredibly happy and greedy smile painted her lips.

"Y-Yes? Why?" Jackie said, startled by her outburst. She had been so silent listening that Jackie had almost forgotten her presence.

"Because if there really are wyverns here then I might consider staying after all." She giggled, "they are incredibly valuable and I've been wanting to enhance the back of my armor, plus their poison is an incredible weapon, their scales are well sold on the market and their blood is an scare magical component."

"W-What?! You plan to hunt them?!" Jackie cried, appalled. "No! They are deadly! A-And they only reside on the mountains, it's much too dangerous to pass through with winter approaching." Jackie said, fearing for her life that the Huntress might try to force her to show her the way.

"Deadly to you or not, they are prey to me." The Huntress half mocked and half stated. "What about normal animals? Deer? Bears? wolves?

"There are plenty of other normal animals such as deers, hawks, bears, lynxes, but … ," Jackie continued, trailing off for a moment, "there were never any wolves here before. Not even wild ones, and now there's a werewolf here. It's massive and white, with frightening teeth a-and piercing red eyes … ," the Red Hood trailed off, shivering as she hugged herself while pulling the donkey along, "it's unlike anything I've ever seen before." The donkey brayed as though out of fear as well, jittering back before Jackie grabbed the rope reins and pulled on it, hugging the donkey and making it

"You actually saw it?" The huntress stopped her pace for a second, quite surprised that the Red Hood had been close enough to see the werewolf and not be killed. However, suspicion arose in her. A shifter wouldn't care about killing a human, but deliberately not doing so when apparently under hiding could only be due to very few reasons. "Take off your clothes. Now." The Huntress ordered in a frightening tone.

"W-What?!" The Red Hood shouted, started as she leaned away from the woman, "h-how can you saw such an outlandish thing?!" Jackie demanded, grasping her cloak and holding it tighter together.

"I need to check that you aren't bitten or scratched. Show me willingly or I'll do so by force." The Huntress's tone was of complete authority.

"I-I-I wasn't bitten or scratched, I swear!" She breathed, frightened of the implications of such a thing, "I could not possibly be one of those things!"

"You think I will merely believe your word? Remove your clothes or I'll rip them off of you to see for myself." The Huntress unshielded a blade and took a step forward.

"S-Stop, I'll do it!" The Red Hood shouted at her, shivering in fright before unclasping her hood and letting it fall to her feet. The young woman undressed for the Huntress, allowing her to check the most likely spots on her body, being her back, shoulders and legs. The only injures on her were bruises and those of the past wounds which held too many scars to be normal for a young woman her age. "S-See? I hold no such wounds!" She snapped.

The Huntress sighed and shielded her blade again. "At last no animal bites there. However … that is quite the collection of scars you have. For your pride as a woman you should have gotten even at least to whomever did that. Unless you enjoyed getting them as suggested by that hickey under your right breast." She said while poking the spot.

Jackie flinched at the tender wound, about to say something but stopped. That wolf … placed that mark on her. Did that mean she was bitten? The Red Hood's face drained of color. N-No, impossible. The Huntress would have killed her if it was a bit, and it didn't puncture the skin! Now the Red Hood had an entirely different problem; it was possible she may have been infected after such a close encounter with the wolf. Perhaps werewolves did not need to pierce the skin in order to infect someone. She had no idea how werewolves infecting humans really worked.

The Huntress looked around. "Very well, get dressed and let's keep going."

Jackie shakily exhaled, stifling her fears for the time being. She would have to ask the witch once she got to his cottage; now was not the time to panic. "How can someone such as I become 'even' with someone when it is the whole village who despises me?" The Red Hood stated in a hard voice, quickly redressing herself.

The Huntress chuckled. "You would be surprised how many kingdoms have fallen because they angered a single girl. But if you can't fight then you can flee, and you clearly haven't done so for many years, have you?" She chuckled again. "Which means you are too foolish or you enjoy pain."

"Let us hurry to the witch's house." The Red Hood bitingly growled, grabbing the donkey's reins firmly and pulling it along with her.

The walk was mostly filled with silence and the sound of Jackie's own footsteps being overshadowed by the clapping hooves of the donkey given that the Huntress's steps were too light to notice. The Red Hood kept her head down, taking the path she always had for many years to the witch's house. She detested the Huntress quite a bit already. She was impertent and difficult. She hoped the Huntress would not cause harm to Grim but knew it was ridiculous to worry; the witch was very powerful. She had that much reassurance.

After a small while of complete silence, Jackie glanced over her shoulder before stopping short, seeing the woman nowhere in sight. "Lady Huntress?" She called, unknowing of the Huntress's name and baffled as she looked all around the path. How in the world did they become separated? There was only the one small path!

The Huntress might have disappeared, but the donkey at her side started getting nervous, and the Red Hood finally noticed the complete silence. A shiver crawled down her spine as she looked around the woods, not hearing even a small bird calling. That … did not sound good. Very slowly the Red Hood reached under her skirt, drawing out a dagger as she very carefully scanned her surroundings. How terribly frightening … what could cause all the birds to go silent? Jackie quickly grabbed the donkey's reins, trying to pull the stubborn beast forward but it resisted, loudly braying and trying to retreat.

Out of the silence came a vicious roar, making Jackie shriek as she spied a giant troll bursting out of the foliage with a club. She let go of the donkey's reins, letting it become the troll's meal as she turned and fled into the woods but the troll chased right after her instead.

The troll threw a hit with the club that passed barely behind Jackie. The creature had caught up to her, but when she thought it was over, a loud noise accompanied by an angry and painful howl form the creature made Jackie turn around to see that it's thick skin was melting on the upper part of his chest and his ribs were beginning to see along the horrible insides. That infuriated the troll but a bunch arrows got stuck on its chest; still, that didn't stop the creature. It launched itself forward at Jackie, glaring around the forest as to where the attacks came from while Jackie continued to run.

"A troll? I would have liked a wyvern better." Over a branch on a tree right above the Red Hood, the Huntress smirked, holding a ballesta in her hands and aiming at the creature. "At least it fell for the bait."

Jackie watched the fight in shock, finding it inhuman to be moving the way the Huntress did, so agile, nimble and powerful. A loud braying made Jackie gasp, remembering the donkey before she ran back through the forest to the path to retrieve Grim's goods.

The troll launched forward, aiming a vertical hit of his club towards the branch and breaking it, after the Huntress had jumped right above and landed over the trolls head, where she struck some bolts with some balls attached, over the troll's skull and then she jumped off. A second later a new explosion blew away the surrounding tree limbs and this time the troll fell to the floor, a hole in his head and his brains sliding of it onto the forest floor.

"Troll brains ... something so useless indeed." The huntress approached the dead troll and retrieved her bolts.

Jackie got back to the donkey whose reigns had gotten tangled in a branch, then she went back to the Huntress and found her holding the troll's heart and doing something strange to it. If she did not know any better, she would say the Huntress was putting a spell on it.

"Are you … using magic?" The Red Hood questioned in surprise.

"Just some basic alchemy." The Huntress then tossed the heart to Jackie, "take that to the witch. It's a message." She said and started unloading the donkey from the tribute and leaving the bags in the floor.

"Hey hey hey! W-What are you doing?! Don't take the bags off, we are hardly halfway there," the Red Hood said, trying to take some bags and tie them back on but the Huntress cut the straps, dropping them back onto the ground.

"I'm taking my prey back to town." The Huntress pointed to the troll's decapitated large head. "Trolls are mostly useless but there are still some components that can be used. In any case, I'm sure the people will be happy to the head off it's shoulders."

"W-What?! But what about Grim? I need to deliver these gifts to him and there's no way I can make it back to town before dark at this rate." Jackie said, mortified as she looked around at all the heavy bags that still needed to be brought to the witch.

"I can sell you some skin of the troll so you can make some sledge thing." The Huntress shrugged and began skinning the troll with some black blade that actually was cutting through the troll's skin.

"Th-That's disgusting! Not to mention how many creatures would be attracted to the smell!" Jackie cried, mortified as Aria continued gutting the troll. "You're really going to leave me out here like this?!"

"Of course not. You are going to the witch to give him my message. You'll stay there tonight and come to this spot tomorrow morning to guide me."

"S-Surely you jest. You will leave me to the witch's mercy?" Jackie asked. She knew she'd be safe but surely the huntress was expecting her to die. "Witches were known for their cruelty." … and Grim is no exception, whether he favored her or not. .

"For what I've gathered, the witch shows you more sympathy than the townsfolk." The huntress then cracked her neck and let out a moan. "And how much do you really know about witches? Or do you know many to back those claims?"

"H-How could you possibly know that?" Jackie asked, unnerved by the woman's knowledge. Whoever would have come to that conclusion so quickly?

"I never said he couldn't be cruel. But you have no option. After all, you were told to do as I say don't you?"

" … alright," Jackie said, closing her eyes and frowning. Well, although it was annoying, it seemed this was the perfect opportunity to ask the witch to teach her alchemy. "Well, if I do not show tomorrow then perhaps I was made into stew for the witch's pleasure." The Red Hood stated, beginning to gather the bags and sort out what was important and what was not to the witch. She was going to travel light; she didn't care about the smaller things and knew Grim would not care for them either. He would only want the essentials.

"How easily you accepted such a 'fate' like being made into a stew for pleasure, yet you don't accept the fate of being a pleasure giver for the town's men." The huntress chuckled.

"That are disgusting men who try to make me into the next town's whore for their pleasure. They are men which are worse than the s*** on my shoes." Jackie answered with a stone expression, her eyes empty of sympathy.

"How serious your words sound. But what about your actions?" The huntress clearly noticed the girl's genuine spite but the bark held no bite, "why do you allow the treatment and abuse? Why are you living there everything you're told to do except that which they really want you to do with them?"

"You're right; my actions have been little." Jackie agreed with a shrug, pondering her words. If the situation was changed at all for any reason then Jackie would not be able to continue to see the witch. The witch was quickly becoming her sole purpose in life and the Red Hood did not want that to change. The witch was her support and she did not want to let it go. She would endure any kind of abuse as long as she would be able to escape the town and visit the witch. "If I no longer accepted this abuse … then I would no longer be able to fulfill the duties of the Red Hood."

"And why do you want to be the Red Hood in the first place?" The woman crossed her arms and leaned forward. "At least you admitted they abuse you. Yet you think they are not cruel in comparison to a witch or a troll?" She chuckled again. "You are funny."

"Men, women and children are supposed to support one another, even when you do not always know what their end goal is," Jackie said with a frown, glancing away. How sad it is when a witch is more trustworthy than her fellow men. "The witch, however, has a goal to simply please himself and no one else; doing cruel things for his own entertainment."

The huntress burst into a melodious laughter. "Fool, Humans are the most dangerous creatures of all. Greedy, scared and murderous. Too easy and willing to enjoy ignorance and hate what they don't understand; that's what makes them top predators. They kill everything else which is different." Her laughter died down slowly. "Humans are way worse than a witch, 'specially if you consider that witches were humans once." Her sharp eyes then fixated on the other woman, "I'll give you tip, girl. A witch cannot back down on her word. Keep that in mind when you deal with a witch."

"I… I get it. In the case of a witch, you know they will kill you because it is in their nature. In comparison, the witch is more trustworthy than the town, is it not?" Jackie said said with a light smile and small laugh herself, finding herself almost enjoying the conversation for a brief moment.

"Exactly." The huntress laughter died in the air, taking the donkey's reigns and began to leave down the path.

Jackie heavily sighed as she watched the Huntress head back to the town. How aggravating it was that the Huntress was making the Red Hood go to all this trouble. However, this also worked to the Red Hood's advantage. Now she could get to work on thinking of a way to make the witch teach her alchemy. He was always pushing for it but she knew once she agreed, he would think or say something ludacris.

As the Red Hood walked alone in the silence of the forest, the creeping horror of possibly being infected slowly but surely ate away at her. Now without the fear of the Huntress seeing her fright, the Red Hood began to tremble with each step and her heart skip some beats at the repulsive thought of becoming a monster. The memory of its teeth pressing against her skin burned beneath her breast, feeling the terror devouring her. Her feet moved faster and faster, trying to flee from the feeling of its heated breath against her body, tasting and sampling her flesh. It was almost as though that beast wanted her to soak in her fright, to make her more delectable to eat at a later time while pleasuring itself with her panicked state.

The tears of fear overtook her senses as she sprinted towards the witch's house, hardly able to breath her fright was so great. If she were to become a monster, then what? She'd die. If she remained the same as she was now, she'd die. The only possible way for her to live was to plead with the witch to learn alchemy, but if she became a monster she would not even have that one chance to live. Her thoughts muddled into a scrambled mess of inconsistent thoughts and thinking, rendering her thought process to be quite poor.

She burst through the front door of the witch's house, looking around for him in a blind panic as her breathing intensified into short gasps, unable to hold any more air than just that. Grim's head poked out of the kitchen with a pleasant smile as usual and not seeming perturbed about her state of desperation.

"Oh? Did you have fun playing earlier on?" He looked her up and down, noticing her ruffled appearance and huffing puffing state. "Should I imply something bad ought to happen to that little town?"

"G-Grim-!" Jackie trilled with fright, dropping the basket and lunging at him. "Grim, am I going to die?!" She cried, grabbing hold of his cloak and looking up at him desperately while trembling quite a considerable lot. "Will I become a beast and die?!"

The witch remained quiet for a second while raising an eyebrow and enjoying the hug. Then he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her away gently "Mind to tell me why you are asking this my dearest Red Hood?"

Jackie grit her teeth, grappling with the straps on her corset before ripping it off her body. "L-Look at this, Grim! Am I to become a beast from this?" She desperately cried, throwing off her shirt and standing before him with her top half completely bare while pointing beneath her breast quite frantically.

The man stared at her bare skin without blinking with his smile frozen on his face in the shock of the moment, remaining in silence for a few moments, "mmhhh.. excuse me?" This was his first time seeing the young woman naked. After processing the thought for a few moments he cleared his throat, "well, no. You see, when all girls get older their breasts get bigger and there starts to appear hair where there wasn't before. It's called puberty."

"Not at those! At _this_!" Jackie pointed out, lifting her breast slightly to better show the mark while pointing to it, "th-the wolf attacked me in the orchard and bit me here with its teeth. Am I to turn into a beast or not?!" Jackie shouted, her voice trembling and wavering.

Grim leaned forward to examine the spot, his finger scratching his chin. "And what would you do if you were tuned into a beast?"

"I-I would ask you to kill me. Now please, Grim! Am I to change into a beast from this mark or not?!" Jackie pleaded, trembling from what she feared would be the answer.

"It looks like a hickey to me or to anyone ... but if you want me to be sure then i can sleep with you." He grinned in a teasing manner, lifting his head to observe more closely the peaks of her mounds.

Jackie's hand slapped him hard across the face before tightly gripping his jaw, glaring into his eyes with a wild and feral gaze. "Be serious, Grim! Will I or will I not turn into a monster?!" She desperately shouted before gritting her teeth, unable to choke back the tears fast enough.

His cold finger poked the reddened skin "Nah, you won't die from this. Could have been done by any man on your neck and it would be considered a love bite instead." He chuckled, gently gripping her side and tapping his thumb against the red mark, "the skin was not broken and since werewolf saliva cannot penetrate the skin, the traces are long gone. You are going to be just fine."

The relief which hit her weakened her knees considerably, making her drop to the ground as she processed his answer. She won't become a beast; she was able to keep living. Jackie's relief soon was overcome with her previous fear, hunching over and getting the last of her tears out of her system now.

"Is that all then?" He turned around and headed for his kitchen, pulling her by the hand on his way. "Let's get you a hot beverage. Sit town and calm"

The Red Hood shakily exhaled, staring at the small cup in her hands. The relief was great; she would not turn into a beast. But now came the hard part; trying to tell him she wanted to be his student. She took a small sip, trying to calm her nerves as her trembling died down a little bit.

"Oh? Looks like this tribute was assembled quite quickly and carelessly. No mind really. For the moment I'm more entertained in seeing how many things are coming together" He hummed. "But for now I'm also considering some nasty caterpillars were eating my cabbages. They didn't last long, especially because they are useful as condiments, ho,ho," he rambled on, aware of her pointed staring but ignored her. He paused through his rummaging before taking out something strange, "what's this?" The witch asked, pulling out a troll's heart, "well now, isn't this unusual." He teased, observing the large lump of flesh.

Jackie perked up slightly, drawn out of her thoughts, "th-that is a message. From the Huntress." Jackie explained, seeing him poke the heart rather tenderly.

"Oooh~ The Huntress?!" Grim's smile became a wide grin before laughing delightfully. "It's been so long!"

"You know the Huntress? The Huntress sent to kill the werewolf?" she asked before deeply frowning, hesitatingly adding, "th-the town also thinks you're involved, you know." Jackie said with a stiff frown.

"So she's finally here? Great!" His eyes shined as he examined the heart. From the undulating heart, an almost unigentible sound came around the dead organ as a fine black smoke formed around the piece of flesh, giving it an orb shape and making it float in the air. In front of the witch, the sound then became words with the voice of the Huntress, but the words were in a language that sounded old and that the witch understood but not so the Red Hood.

"Oh … how cute. A bit crude and her accent is too hard, always been so." The witch smiled, amused. "But, no matter. She will be fun to play with later." He cheerfully hummed, returning to the kitchen as Jackie followed, troubled by the strange message but more so on how she would ask the witch to teach her alchemy. She stared long and hard at him, borrowing holes through the back of his skull before he turned around with a pleasant laugh.

"Just say it already. Do you want me to melt the skin off of their bones of everyone in the town? To make hail fall until all the crops are destroyed? To transform them into swines for the beasts of the forest to feast on? Or perhaps you want something else? Maybe you noticed my new apron and want to compliment me on it? Your face clearly shows you want to say something so say it." He cheerfully grinned, poking her on the tip of her nose, expecting her to move away from him.

She did not move in the slightest as she stared harder at him and, before she realized what she was saying, she spoke, "Grim, I want to learn magic from you. Please teach me." She said, looking him straight in the eyes with unwavering conviction.

"YES! FINALLY YOU ACCEPTED MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" Grim rejoiced, but then he suddenly regained his calm demeanor and stared quite seriously at her. "Now that you accepted is a deal, so you can't go back. But what happened for you to finally accept my offer?" He curiously probed.

"I just want to learn how to better defend myself is all." She said, turning her glare to him which burned with determination, "so teach me, Grim. Please." She asked, feeling her arms trembling slightly. She was scared to ask this of him; he would want something tremendous in return but she was determined to become stronger. Just in the past few days she had come within moments of dying with only sheer luck sparing her. She could depend on no one but herself; so she had to learn how to get stronger.

Grim rose an eyebrow. "Can you seriously tell me you don't want revenge at all?"

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 **What do you think the Red Hood's true reasoning for wanting to learn magic is? Let us know in the reviews! 5 REVIEWS for the next chapter! :D**

 **-lord: Enjoy!**


	4. Chapter 4

The Red Hood stared at the witch before answering rather slowly. " … I can't. I do want revenge, but not like this. This would be only for myself."

Grim rose an eyebrow and stared back, unmoving and expressionless for some very long and uncomfortable moments until he burst out laughing.

"W-What's so funny!?" She demanded, startled by his reaction.

"Here you are, asking for power and knowledge that will take you beyond what any of those humans will ever get in their pathetic and meaningless existences and you don't want to use it to get even with those worthless worms." He chuckled.

"That is because they are not worth my time." The Red Hood spoke in a rather cold tone which surprised even herself. She really didn't care about them; they were slow and stupid and cruel. And she absolutely hated them; she hated them, she loathed them for everything that they've done. However, she refused to sink to their level. She'd wouldn't take revenge because they would eventually destroy themselves with their own greed. And somehow, that thought was even sweeter than doing it herself.

"But shouldn't they at least serve as practice material? I could show you how to poison the small town in a way that will make them suffer without hope for days."

"They don't need help to kill themselves with everything they've done. I don't want to bother myself with something that will consume itself on its own." She stated, feeling almost detached from her own voice as she spoke these cruel words

"So you would much prefer to watch them?" His laughter died down but his smirk remained. "I can of course do the deed myself in your favor."

Jackie remained silent, feeling a cold shiver trail down her spine. She … didn't want that either. She simply wanted nothing to do with them. Whether she watched them consume themselves or not she didn't care; she knew it would happen and that was enough for her.

With a shrug the witch let out a deep and overly dramatic sigh. "Very well, you don't have that much magical talent naturally but I can make a good alchemist or herbolarist out of you. But the town will burn you if they think you are my apprentice, so ... are you moving in here yet?"

"I'll take anything you can offer to teach me." Jackie said before lightly grinned, "there really isn't much more they can do to me other than relieve me of my suffering. However, I don't plan on going down that easily." She admitted, trying to make lighthearted the situation. "Besides, you won't let them." Jackie said with a smile back, poking his nose, "you like your current Red Hood."

Grim chuckled. "That is true. I'll expand the house; you'll find your room upstairs soon."

"Thank you, Grim." Jackie genuinely thanked him, "when can you start teaching me?"

"Right now." He snapped his fingers and a mountain of books fell on her, appearing from out of nowhere. "Since you are staying tonight then you can start by reading these."

Jackie laid in a crumpled heap, struggling to claw her way out of the stack before bursting through the top with a gasp and looking all around at the books surrounding her. "S-So much reading?!" She said, startled.

"Yes. And it's just the kiddy section; these ones have lots of drawings." Grim turned towards the stove and put a pot with water to prepare some tea. "Now tell me. How is it that you were given this message?"

"T-The huntress demanded to come see you." Jackie said, picking up the books and looking them over in confusion. She had to stare and concentrate just to make the titles and even then she couldn't understand some of the words.

"Oh? And do tell how the Huntress, a complete stranger, treat you in comparison to the townspeople?" He crossed his arms with knowing curiosity.

" … much better." Jackie admitted with a frown, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"I just think think that maybe you made a new friend." Grim clapped his hands quite delighted.

"Friend? With a woman like that?!" Jackie demanded, flustered. "T-That woman is a hunter, and more so might come after you!"

He waved a hand dismissively. "The huntress only hunts monsters and even then she'd hardly hunt unless she's paid for it well enough." He then scratched his chin. "Well, there was that time in Glocklock where she killed someone for looking at her wrong. Not to mention the resistance on the yellow front that she put down within 2 days of mass slaughtering, of the which I believe did indeed include witches, werewolves, vampires and a cat." He tilted his head. "Although the cat may have survived since he did not 'die' per se, but rather is somewhere and nowhere at the same time." He said with a cheerful smile before shrugging. "Oh … well, I guess she does hunt just about anything, although she allegedly has said that she only kills monsters but who's to say her definition of monster is what humans describe monsters to be."

"S-She was part of the war in the East?!" Jackie gasped, shocked. Although very little word had ever reached their town they all knew that millions if not more were slaughtered there by the 3 factions who fought against one another.

"She's the one who dealt some of the final blows towards the end, I believe. After that she got tangled up in the uprising she suppressed and restored the current monarch of this lands to the throne."

"B-But what is she doing here, then?!" The Red Hood demanded. Someone so powerful wouldn't ever come to this kind of backwoods town unless there was something seriously powerful here.

"Why don't you ask her?" Grim teased with a cheeky grin.

"She said that she is hunting the demon wolf that is here." Jackie said, feeling more cold chills up her spine.

"Oh, is she really?" He softly and mysteriously smiled before shrugging. "Oh well, things will reveal themselves in due time. She's sometimes too focused on her own goals but goals are usually interesting or lead to interesting results."

"B-But what else is possibly here that she would want?" The Red Hood asked, feeling at a loss for herself. "Nothing in this area would have anything to offer that woman." Suddenly, a stray thought reached the front of her mind. "You need to be careful!"

Grim blinked and pointed at himself. "Me? Why?"

"If she comes after you, I-I'll lose my teacher, you know!" She snapped at him.

"Ho ho~! Then I should prepare for an extra guest then. Do you think she likes exotic teas?" He asked with a cheerful hum in wonderment.

"Absolutely not, I don't want her coming here at all!" Jackie shouted.

"But she is coming here anyways. She already sent her greeting card. It would be impolite if I don't even offer some tea and cookies for our honored guest." Grim straightened his apron.

"S-She doesn't know where this place is yet. Maybe … m-maybe I can take her to the old village instead and act shocked, a-as though you move or something." The Red Hood suggested, desperately trying to think of a solution to spare the witch.

Carefully the witch patted the girl's head, amused with her worry. "You think she can't find me on her own? She instead decided to be civil and use a guide I know to deliver a 'hello' message. She is not seeking for a fight so don't worry." He hummed, "besides, she'd kill you if you don't bring her here. She is quite relentless in her hunts." He smiled.

"W-What makes you think the town won't try to pay her to kill you? She might kill you just for a pound of gold!" Jackie pointe out, "you said yourself she hunted anything and everything as long as she was paid enough."

"I don't think the town can afford to pay her enough to bother with me." He chuckled, "they are already paying her for the wolf, no?" He then pulled her into a hug, startling the Red hood. "You're adorable when you're panicking!"

Jackie's face was buried against his chest with a response so muffled it was impossible to decipher. She tightly gripped his robes, pressing her face against his shoulder in fright. She was truly scared to lose him. Without him, her support, she felt like she would fall. If another support of hers were to fall away, she would be left with nothing.

"You worry too much. That troll's heart was a presentation card. An old custom and a courtesy to announce her presence and that her target is someone else." He pulled back. "Just take her here or wherever she wants. She can't kill me but she can most certainly kill you which is another reason why you should befriend her. She won't bother with mistreatment; she'd kill you right away unlike the town's people." He helpfully explained.

"That … is reassuring." Jackie said, finding comfort in his words. He was right; if she tried to fool the Huntress, she'd simply be killed. She let out a heavy sigh, wrapping her arms around the witch and tightly hugging him. "D-Don't die, okay, Grim?" She said, her grip trembling. "Swear to me that you won't die, Grim." She asked, looking up to him with an intense and fiery gaze. She didn't want the witch to disappear; if he did, she'd be left alone.

"I can't die, dear." He winked. "A creature like me can't end."

"Then don't ever end. Swear it." She pushed.

"My dear, it should be you asking me to never let you die, and yet you concern yourself with the life of a being who cannot die?" Grim laughed a bit more **.**

"You still are not swearing it to me." She said, determined to get the witch's word on this promise.

Grim studied her for a few moments before softly smiling, "what would the point be? I cannot die," as he spoke he leaned down, moving her hair aside and sweetly whispered in her ear, "I cannot die because I am beyond death."

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Back at the town's gate the braying of a donkey was heard and with it came the visage of the Huntress calmly holding the donkey's reigns while it pulled the head of a monstrous gigantic troll behind it along with parts of its hideous corpse.

The huntress marched into town directly to the town's square. She would have advanced all the way to the mayor's office but by then the whole town had gathered around the Huntress and her kill, adding to the eruption of cheers flooding the town. Amongst the crowd the other hunters looked on in envy, shocked that the huntress had taken down such a formidable troll which had bothered travelers for decades now. They had all tried hunting it but it somehow always knew how to avoid them. And now, it was dead. The mayor, judge and treasurer quickly approached her, looking over the beast in shocked before covering their noses at the stench of the corpse.

"Th-This beast-! Where, h-how did you kill this so quickly?" The mayor asked, flabbergasted as his bulbous pores released bullet sized drops of sweat.

"Amazing … in hardly 2 hours, you've already returned with evidence of your skill." The Judge said, dryly swallowing as he began to examine it, confirming it was indeed the one nameless troll which had been troublesome to the town for years.

"It's only a medium sized troll. Just another prey for The Huntress. The price for it will be the standard fee." The woman shrugged. "It dared get in my way."

"A-And what of the Red Hood? Of her fate?" The treasurer asked, looking around the town for the woman.

"I sent her to the witch's house along with a message and the tribute. Coming back to town to present you this prey and letting you sleep safer seemed more urgent. If any other monsters dare approach, there will be less monsters in this world."

"Lady Huntress, you killed this beast singlehandedly?" A young man asked as he looked over the kill, looking astounded.

"Obviously." She tossed her hair back and cracked her neck. "Trolls are strong, but they aren't smart or fast." She looked at the man, the only one who had taken a few steps closer to the sundered head. He looked like a tramper or perhaps a woodcutter, moderately good looking and physically strong, yet not the brightest torch in the cave.

"My name is Badrick; a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." He greeted with a sheepish and somewhat shy smile, appearing to be pondering something. "Lady Huntress, as thanks for ridding the town of this troll, would you care to-," he started to ask before a hard hand slapped across his back, making him gag back his words as an older mean lightheartedly grinned and held a drink up to her, clearly having come out of the tavern to take a look at the commotion.

"Hey, lass! Amazing job there; want to grab a drink?" The half drunken man asked with a deep set grin, gesturing over to a nearby tavern.

The huntress grabbed the mug of beer and drank it in one go. "I'll accept a drink or two."

"After a kill like this, one should celebrate! One less monster for us to live with!" He cheered as the rest of the crowd excitedly cried out and ushered the Huntress over to the tavern to enjoy herself.

The Huntress, followed by the amture part of the crowd, stepped into the well kept tavern, watching the seats be filled quite fast as the gentlemen guided her to the middle of the room to be seated, waiting on her hand and foot for whatever she wanted. While food was brought, the huntress found herself surrounded by the locals, which began asking about her travels or speaking on how dangerous was that troll, although she let them speak more than what she said.

As drinks arrived and alcohol was consumed, the tales changed into a armwrestling competition that the huntress easily won against every single person who tried to test her, further proving her excellent strength and skills.

This went on until late at night, and by then her mood changed, she found out that from all the men still conscious, the one with a more agreeable package was that Badrick guy. Young and hesitant but suitable prey for now. She stood up and approached him with swinging hips and an alluring smile, sliding up against him with a tempting smile. "Would you care to accompany me to my room?"

Badrick continued to drunkenly smile, pausing for a brief moment before looking surprised. The other sloppy men laughed and pushed him forward towards her, making him stumble before he righted himself. His sheepish expression deepened in coloration as he held his arm out to her in an escorting sort of position. "I-I can, if you'd like." He said, looking her in the eyes.

"Then let's go." The Huntress touched his arm but didn't take it while smiling mysteriously. She then turned around towards the stairs and to her room with Badrick following after her. She just hoped he had enough energy to last until she was satisfied.

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While the Huntress had a night full of activity, her pet fox went out to scout the terrain like he always did when a situation like this happened. He didn't like that men brought into her room monopolized his master's attention or disrupted his nights of sleep cuddling with her but there was nothing he could do. Perhaps this time he could practice hunting.

Without thinking too much on it, he roamed the street in the direction of the forest with the intention of searching and hunting some small prey. However, something always distracted him like the smell of a cute flower or the glow of a firefly which would oftentimes let his prey escape. A small 'cheep' made his ear flicker and out of instinct he immediately jumped towards the noise with his jaws open to catch a small baby chicken. So precise was his attack that he managed to delicately grab the little chick between his teeth without killing it, holding it like a mother cat would with her kitten as its head flickered around, reaching towards the ground with its small talons to return to the seeds below it was picking at. Kit grinned at his success, considering presenting the living chick to his master.

The little fox tilted his head, wondering how did this chick was randomly here and out in the open when all noises in the vicinity suddenly stopped. The fur on the back of his neck stood up straight as a terrible presence paralyzed his moments, rendering him frozen. His breath shortened as he very slowly looked back and saw the piercing crimson eyed gaze of the creature putting off such a menacing aura that he couldn't find the energy to flee. Kit remained frozen where he was as the monster reached down, brushing his fingers over the soft fur of the fox back before picking him by the scruff of the neck.

Held up by the stranger, Kit came face to face with the monster he knew the Huntress was hunting. His heart pounded hard in his chest as he breathed faster, his little chest huffing and puffing in fright with the little chick casually dangling from within his jaws. He was completely petrified by fear, more so because this not-man smelled of blood; fresh human blood. Meaning he had killed someone very, very recently.

The man brought the fox to his chest, cradling him in one arm before Captain Hans Gunsche walked down the alley, continuing his way towards the familiar scent which directed his path. Kit watched as the town his master was in grew further and further away, too frightened to move in any way as the chick nestled into his warm fur.

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The next morning the Red Hood stood waiting for the Huntress to the agreed upon spot. She let out an annoyed huff; the Huntress was late. Not one bit of sleep was taken last night; instead, she was up all night studying. Whoever knew learning alchemy involved so much studying and reading? She expected the work to be difficult but she thought he would teach her in a more hands on approach, not by making her read so much.

Jackie paused, listening again to the birds in the trees but they were silent. After a moment of pondering the reason her blood ran cold in fright. Something was here. Her eyes widened, feeling the air grow oppressively heavy as her heart sped up in fright. The hairs on her arms rose as goosebumps of fright formed, feeling something terrible about to happen. Desperate to escape, she turned to return to the witch's house but stopped short at seeing Hans standing before her with a cool gaze.

"H-Hans! You startled me." She said, placing a hand over her chest to calm her frantic heart. Was it only Hans here this whole time? Her eyes turned to his chest, spotting the Huntress's pet fox in his arms, completely still with a tiny chick in its twitching jaws. The fox looked borderline psychotic with slightly roughed up fur and a wide eyed glassy gaze that appeared to see nothing as it held deathly still, breathing in only small frightened huffs.

Hans approached her and leaned forward as if he was going to kiss her but he instead sniffed around her neck. The Red Hood held still, baffled by his odd behavior but did not push him away. She could feel the heat of his skin radiating over her own, providing a strangely hot warmth which warmed her to the core. He looked like every time she had seen him, bare chested under his trench coat. The only difference was the frightened fox he was carrying in his hands, which he promptly placed in Jackie's arms before he took a step back and held absolutely still as though he were observing her reaction.

" … w-where did you find this?" Jackie asked, feeling the fox trembling in horror against her while nervously kneading the fluffy chick with its mouth, almost as though using it to keep itself calm while the chick remained cheeping and flicking its head around to look for more seeds. "And why is it so scared?" She asked, further confused as she gently pet it's cheek and side to loosen it up but it remained stiff and terrified.

Hans tilted his head while his eyes deepened in intensity before he approached her. Out of nowhere he pressed his lips over Jackie's mouth and just so lightly pressed forward while the fox was crushed between them.

Everything in that one moment froze; her heart, her breathing and her thinking. All she could do was feel the firm pressure between their lips and, although stiff, the kiss sent startled jolts through her system. Her legs trembled as she quickly came to the realization that she wanted him. She wanted him so badly that she would abandon everything to have him; her home, her town and even her fiance Badrick. The Red Hood gently pushed back feeling her heart start up again and began racing as she held the fox against her chest, reaching up and holding the back of Hans's neck to keep him close to her. Against his tongue was the tantalizing taste of his last meal, a faint metallic taste of blood which warmly washed against her eager tongue.

Hans placed his hands over Jackie's shoulders, slipping a finger under the fabric to try and peel off her silly clothes. Feeling no resistance, as Jackie was too enamored in the kiss to notice the advance, he continued to follow his instincts. His hands trailed to her back to undo the strings of her blouse before traveling to her hips to grab her skirt, beginning to pull it up and feel the bare skin of her thighs.

"Hmm-!" Jackie gasped, snapping back to her senses as she quickly pulled back in surprise, looking at him with wide and excited eyes. She could hardly believe the powerful surges of adrenaline pumping through her veins. She was so excited and so invigorated that she did not want to stop but through sheer will found the energy necessary to stop it. T-That … was, wow. Jackie glanced away, shocked at what she was about to do. She was actually about to let him have her; all of her. The realization of wanting him as badly as she did hit her hard as she covered her mouth and deeply flushed in embarrassment. "H-Hans, I," she started to say but when she looked back he was gone. "Hans?" She called out, alarmed at the man's sudden disappearance. A few moments later the birds began singing once again, signaling the safety of the area now.

"Hey, Red Hood! You around here!?" The huntress voice preceded its owner when the Huntress appeared down the same road they had taken the previous day, approaching with a fast gait. When she saw the other female, the Huntress perked up. "Why are your clothes falling over, and … Kit?!" Next she ignored the girl and addressed the fox, "what are you doing here?"

Jackie jolted, startled as she quickly set the fox down and began lacing her clothing back up. How embarrassing to be caught off guard like this! The moment the fox's paws touched the ground he let go of the chick and shot off over to The huntress, leaping into the air before shifting into a young man, barely more than a teenager if at all, that had fox ears and three tails.

"MAAAAAASTEEEEEER!" He shrieked in fright, wrapping his arms around the Huntress in a near crushing hug. His eyes burst open the flood gates, hysterically sobbing as he hid his face into her neck. The boy's tails slid between his legs, trembling so hard that he couldn't speak anything more than begging for his master's attention with soft whines.

The huntress eyes widened and she embraced the young man tightly while checking out for any injuries. "What happened, Kit?! Did someone do anything to you? I'll punish you if you let anyone harm you!" She hissed, pressing his head over her chest softly as he transformed back into a little fox and crawled inside her clothes while continuing to tremble in fright. The huntress looked up at the other woman with a quickly fearsome aura "Hey you! What happened to my fox?"

"A-A boy! Your fox turned into a boy?!" The Red Hood gaped, in shock. "What sort of spell could cause a fox to turn into a boy?" She asked more so in wonderment.

"Yeah, so what? I asked you a question. What happened?" The huntress narrowed her eyes, acting as if the fox's transformation wasn't much of a deal.

"O-Oh." She said, suddenly finding herself under the terrifying gaze of the Huntress. The words of the witch swirled within her mind, numbing her speech as she found herself struggling to form sentences that would appease the woman. "I-I … u-um, I d-d-d-don't know." Jackie said, still shaken from her intense encounter with Hans. "H-Hans just dropped him off l-like that a-and what did it shift into a human?!" Jackie asked, righting her clothing before seeing the little chick pecking at her shoes. Not wanting the chick to become something else's prey, she knelt down and gently scooped it up, watching it nestle into her warm hand. The chick almost reminded her of the one Hans had brought her earlier before wondering then, briefly, if this chick was indeed the same one as before. Her hands gently enveloped the little chick, holding it protectively against her chest.

"Who is this Hans and what did he do to my fox?" The huntress demanded with such a strong and demanding voice that the animals in the surrounding area all became deathly silent, making chills shoot down the Red Hood's spine.

"I-I have no idea." Jackie admitted. "He disappeared as soon as he reappeared. He just handed the fox to me an-and then … well, then you came along." Jackie said, omitting the embarrassing moment she almost gave in to that stranger's touches. Her body felt like it was on fire; she still felt that raging heat but it was slowly being quelled as she forced herself to pay attention to the situation at hand.

The Huntress's gaze quickly grew more furious at the weak and ill-informative information. Her keen eyes scanned the surroundings. On the ground she could only see the Red Hood's tracks. There was a disturbance in front of them but no other tracks but she knew the girl wasn't lying. So far she had proven too stupid to lie properly. Perhaps she was hiding something but she wasn't lying. Not to mention the air in the forest felt different; birds were being quite quiet and the scent of magic was still present in the air. She was a monster hunter and no monster could hide its presence completely from her. Musing on the possibilities and implications, the huntress stopped her trail of thought for a second when she felt some shifting inside her clothes that made her turn around, ignoring Jackie and leaving her where she was. The fox needed the Huntress's attention for now.

"W-Wait! Don't you still want to see the witch?" Jackie asked, hurrying after the Huntress in confusion.

"I don't care; you can take me there later. First I'm going to check on this fluffy fool." The huntress passed her hands over the bundle in her clothes.

Jackie frowned, indignant. That woman just made her walk all the way here just to lead her to the witch's house and now she was not going to go at all? Releasing a pent up sigh along with her annoyance, the Red Hood followed the Huntress back to town. "H-Huntress, wait, I have a question for you." The Red Hood called, finding herself almost running to keep up with the Huntress.

"Calm down you little piece of fluff." The huntress ignored the girl and growled at the shivering fox, who kept pushing himself against her. Finally tired of the shifting inside her Jacket the Huntress took out the fox and held it in her arms with it's three tails tucked between its shaking legs. "You better not be hurt or I'll make you regret getting hurt." She threatened, but her hands cuddled the small critter with unexpected tenderness. "I don't have you around to be this scared, so control yourself, Kit."

"Huntress!" The Red Hood called, picking up her pace. She had to know; she had to know if the Huntress was planning on killing the witch or not. Despite knowing the dangers of what the Huntress was capable of, The Red Hood surged forward before whipping around in front of the Huntress with a wild and determined glare in her eyes. "Did the town pay you off to hunt the witch?!" She shouted with her arms outstretched, forcing the Huntress to come to a stop. Jackie's chest ached, literally feeling the dangerous aura the Huntress put off. However, despite the danger, she was determined to know if the Huntress planned on hunting the witch as well.

"Huh?" The Huntress blinked and looked up at the girl "What?"

"Are you going to hunt the witch, Grim Reaper?" Jackie repeated in a harder tone.

"I really don't care. Now move." The Huntress hissed, shoving the young woman aside as she continued forward.

"Someone as strong as you isn't here for something as simple as a demon wolf!" Jackie accused in a loud voice, finding herself trembling. "You are here for something more than that. What is it?" She asked, her voice now trembling.

The Huntress rolled her eyes. "That wouldn't be your business in any case, girl."

"If it involves the witch then it becomes my business." Jackie stated without a pause in beat. Her voice was faltering; she could feel it. She hated how her voice faltered and how her knees shook. She was determined to stop the Huntress if her eyes were on the witch at all and yet she could not stop the almost suffocating fear which held her throat.

"Aren't you just it's delivery girl? Or are you really something more as the townspeople imply?" Upon a whine from the fox, the Huntress scratched him behind the ears.

"Who knows." Jackie said, finding her hands shaking to the point she could barely clench them.

The older woman examined with her piercing gaze the younger female "Did you delivered him my message? Do you even know what it was?"

"Y-Yes, I delivered it. The witch informed me it was a courtesy but why would a Huntress send a courtesy to a witch at all?" The Red Hood answered, trying to search the Huntress's eyes for an answer but could find none.

The Huntress dead panned. "You obviously know nothing. Well, that rules you out as a witch or anything interesting yourself."

"What do you mean?" Jackie questioned.

The woman rolled deadpanned and growled a huff. "You don't know anything about the old customs and you surely didn't understand that message. You are just a common, ignorant and illiterate girl from a backwater town at the a** of this kingdom." The Huntress noticed the fox stopped shivering and placed him back inside her clothes. "Listen well, girl. My business is my own but if you had heard about me you'd know my help, as effective as it is, is not cheap. I am _the_ Huntress. What do you think I do for a living?"

"Anything as long as you are paid, right?" The Red Hood challenged, still feeling quite uneasy.

"I hunt monsters, girl … normally. I'm not interested in hunting witches but your witch may hold useful information. That's why I presented myself properly with that courtesy, as for my hunt. If your town pays enough I will hunt that wolf."

"As of right now, you are not hunting anything?" Jackie asked, bewildered.

"The town has not presented me with a proper proposal yet." The Huntress explained.

So … if you have no promise of a payment, why are you bothering to stay at all? You have to realize a town this small could hardly pay you enough to hunt a demon werewolf." The Red Hood pointed out, beginning to realize her thought earlier of the Huntress being here for another reason entirely could be entirely possible.

"I'll wait for their proposal today and then I'll decide," the Huntress said and, before the Red Hood could question her further, she added, " that's all you are gonna get, girl. Don't pry into my business or I'll make you my prey too."

Jackie shivered as her lips sealed up tight. She was right; the Huntress was here for something else, not the witch and not the wolf either, or at least not just for it. If she was not here for either of those things, then what could possibly be here for her?

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 **Peeko:** _ **5 REVIEWS**_ to find out what happens next! We're just getting started with this frightening tale of the Red Hood so stay tuned for more fun!

 **Chaos-dark-lord:** Yes, we finally updated this. Raise your hands everyone who thinks that fox is cute!


	5. Chapter 5

Not too long after, the moment the Huntress and the Red Hood stepped foot into town they could see the frightened movements of the villagers as they frantically whispered and hushed one another but their fright made their voices loud enough to overhear.

"The witch, the witch is mad!" A frightened trill arose as another woman gently comforted her.

"Surely there was a reason. Whoever knows the thoughts of a wretched witch?"

"He is mad, and he will turn that madness to us!" The older woman cried out, covering her eyes as she began to sob.

"Hey you! What's this commotion about?" The huntress asked to the neared person. maybe she asks what has happened and they explain the werewolf attacked last night.

"That awful wolf-! It attacked the whore just last night, oh it is so terrible-!" A woman cried, weeping, "I went this morning and found her as such!" She sobbed.

"The werewolf attacked someone inside the town? Where?" The Huntress narrowed her eyes and began making her way towards the place of the incident.

"It was in the whore's house! She was dead where she laid by her bed-! Oh, the poor thing!" The woman cried, covering her mouth in fright.

Jackie's world suddenly came to a stop. Her mother … was dead? The Red Hood felt nothing as she slowly turned her head, staring in the direction of her home. Her mother was … dead? Really? Was it true what the woman said? Jackie's heart achingly pounded as she slowly began to walk, then trot, then run to her house. She evaded the mobs of people surrounding the house, slipping right past the guards out front and into her home. She shot up the stairs to find the Judge and his gang standing around the mangled corpse of her mother.

The Red Hood's mouth parted, finding a blanket covering the corpse with blood splattered about all over the room. Her mother's head was exposed, however, revealing her clouded eyes wide with horror and lips locked in a scream with her throat torn out. Jackie's eyes met with her deceased mother's gaze, unable to look away. It really happened … the wolf came, and killed her. Just like Jackie had wanted. She felt no pain, no guilt, no … nothing. There was only silence in her mind, body and heart. The only thing she could understand was that her mother was no more; she was gone.

The huntress came into the room and unceremoniously tossed the blanket covering the corpse aside to examine the body. Everyone but her grimaced at the sightly corpse, disturbed by the ferociousness of the kill. Without turning around she asked, "this happened last night? Was anyone else attacked?" She began checking out the injuries of the cadaver. The throat was ripped out and the intestines were exposed from a great wound on the abdomen; the spine was undoubtedly broken too.

"No one else. No one heard a thing, much less see anything. There are no fresh tracks entering or leaving this household." The Judge said with a grim frown. "The wounds, however, resemble that of a very large dog; which must mean the werewolf must have done this."

"But there are no tracks anywhere!" Another man argued, "no wolf tracks, no human tracks, nothing! How is it possible for a beast or man of that size to leave without leaving a trace?!"

"Because the beast is skilled and probably wasn't a beast at the time it came inside. There are no claw marks around so the werewolf infiltrated in human form and then probably transformed to do the job." The huntress stood up to look at the room. Everything was in relative order with the only thing that was noticeable was the big splash of blood on the wall behind the corpse. "And this was a personal job. The victim was not random."

"Was the beast wise enough to cover its own tracks?" A hunter asked in near horror.

The Huntress looked at the man as if he was an idiot. "You are dealing with a werewolf, not a common lycanthrope. In general, a real shifter has human intellect and guise." The huntress took a step back to look at the judge. "Your werewolf attacked premeditatedly. He or she came into town hiding from everyone, seeked out this person and killed her before leaving without any other incident."

"But why the whore?" The Judge asked, casting Jackie a side glance as she still stood still, continuing to stare at her mother with the image before her burning into her memory.

"No idea." The huntress shrugged. "However smart they are, shifters have very primal instincts and raw emotions. It could have been that she somehow insulted, threatened or damaged either him or herself or what he or she considered as his or her stuff. That could be even as simple as stepping close to what its considered as his or her territory."

"D*** … could that wolf be planning to stay here?" The Judge said with his teeth gritted in apprehensive anger. "If that is true, then we must kill this beast much sooner rather than later."

"This place is remote enough so there is a possibility it wants to make the forest it's territory. So the mayor better have a good proposal for me." She crossed her arms. "Still, it's strange. Shifters are secretive of their presence. If it wanted to live here he or she would try hiding as a human, and if it only planned to make the woods it's territory, then the wolf would stay away from town."

"So what does the beast want so badly it continues to come and go? Is it searching still for whatever it wants?" The Judge asked, trying to make sense of its presence near and around the town.

"Could be revenge, could be amusement, could be anything. It's too early to say for sure. Heck, for all the lack of evidence it could even be a mate." The Huntress tilted her head. "Well, not a mate, the werewolf could and would more surely just snatch the possible boy or girl away, not to mention that the compatibility for finding a possible mate is extremely slim."

"The village has done nothing that would have angered the werewolf; is there any possibility, Huntress, that the witch could be controlling the wolf into attacking us?" The Judge asked, "already you have deduced this werewolf is behaving strangely. Can a witch make a contract with a shifter?"

"That's evident. Otherwise the wolf would have attacked everyone." The Huntress uncrossed her arms and cracked her neck, "I don't see how the witch is involved. No shifter would lower themselves to make a pact with a mere witch. They are too proud. And the type of shifters that can form pacts are entirely different beings, not werewolves."

" … if I may be so bold, Huntress, have you met with the witch yourself? Have you seen the things he can do, and deduce he truly is a common witch?" The Judge questioned.

"Common or not, the issue is the werewolf, and trust me. Your issues with the witch are not related. Besides, this witch has been around for many years and just now a werewolf appeared? No, gentlemen. The wolf was attracted by some other reason." The Huntress explained.

"I thank you for your personal opinion on the matter, Huntress." The Judge said with a small nod in her direction. "Now … how do you suggest we protect ourselves now that the werewolf has decided to lay its wrath upon the people?"

"J-Jackie!" Badrick's voice called, sounding quite startled. In a mere few seconds he was beside her, gently sliding her arm around her waist to help give her support as she lifelessly leaned against him, continuing to stare at the corpse. "Judge, here is the silver knife you wanted. I am going to care for my fiance now." He said, his voice trailing off as he made eye contact with the Huntress. His cheeks turned a rosy red before looking away in sheepish embarrassment, gently guiding the Red Hood away from the scene and down the stairs.

"Hmph. Such a weak minded boy to take the Red Hood to wed." The Judge muttered under his voice, turning his attention back to the Huntress.

The Huntress rose an eyebrow at the knife and looked at the Judge directly in his eyes. "Mr. Judge. Let's go with the mayor to talk about business and precaution methods while the men take the body away and dig a tomb. I'm sure the family of the victim would also like some comfort."

"Of course. The mayor is in his office now; allow me to escort you there." The Judge said, turning to the men, "ensure no one enters the room here. I do not want evidence to be messed with until more thoroughly examined by the doctor's return. Ensure the house is empty at that time." He said before leaving with the Huntress.

The Huntress walked away, not caring for the man that had slept with her or his 'fiance'. But as she passed by the Red Hood's side, she noticed how the female seemed genuinely uncaring towards the death of her mother. Her eyes were devoid of anything; not sadness, not guilt and surely not anger. Sure, there was the shock of the copse and the fear of the carnage, but the huntress knew the look quite well. The Red Hood didn't care at all about that woman. Her eyes glanced over the Red Hood as the corner of her lip slightly twitched into a smile. How entertaining.

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In the woods, a new player in the game made his appearance. He was a monstrously large Tiger from the North with fangs as long as daggers and a deep colored thick coat, naturally much larger and more muscular than the resident werewolf that had been recently terrorizing the nearby towns. The newcomer's ice blue eyes showed the clear sentient mind of a true bastet, a truebred shifter, and his arrogant strides made it clear that he had a single objective in mind.

"Oh ho~ how delightful!" Grim trilled with excitement, watching the creature dash through the snow which would soon befall the towns. The witch reached aside and pulled out a large book bound in black leather and decorative jewels with a large skull on the front. The witch let out a steady breath filled with soft chants, watching the book fly open with the pages flying around in the room at a blindly wild pace before a single paper floated before him. "Let us see ... ," he muttered, scanning the paper briefly with a pair of small glasses. "Ah~ so this creature's name is Sergei Jeloudov … he'll arrive sooner than I expected." Grim noted and, before tossing the page aside he paused, finding a familiar name within the creatures past, present and future written within the page. "Oh dear … and he is related to him, is he? How delightful! I knew he would be perfect. I am glad he took the bait unlike the other possibilities," the witch hummed and sang to himself, snapping his fingers and making the pages whirl wildly back together before resting within between the leather covers and sealing itself up tightly. "Ooh~ I simply cannot wait any longer! But I must, I must! For the time is not quite right." He whispered to himself, finding himself growing impatient and giddy with excitement. He wondered how the Huntress would take to seeing such an emotional piece of her history unravel before her again. "Ho, ho it'll be interesting to see how she reacts to have been the prey this whole~ time~~~."

Unable to help himself he grinned before tossing the book open and allowing the papers to fly about around him, only to present him with a blank page filled with nothing at all. He wildly grinned before taking out a large quill pen, touching the tip to his tongue hard enough to draw some blood before adding to the blank canvas that was supposed to hold the information on the Huntress; but as always it remained blank even when he tried to write on it. "Still nothing here … I have yet to complete this mistake. Oh well~ more fun for me!" He cried with delight as the pages returned to the book in an orderly fashioned, sealing up tight before he tossed it aside.

"Now now now~ let us see … ah." He said, his eye narrowing as he spied a few rather pesky buggers prematurely entering the space he resided in. "How naughty~ not yet, not yet! You vampires are not supposed to be here yet." He softly smiled before snapping his fingers to get the book against. On it he searched for the names of the vampires and once he did, he poked his nail against the paper where the words formed the area of where they were. With a few simple alterations, he let himself be dragged through the page right to where this caravan of vampires were.

He burst out of the space with a cheerful laugh, floating just above the ground before raising his arm with his palm faintly glowing. A quiet mumble of spells and chants filled the oppressive heavy air as a massive scythe materialized in his hands from his shadow. The vampires leapt back, hissing in his direction as a sickening grin twisted Grim's lips up. His irises were consumed by his widening pupils, turning his entire gaze to hold an inky blackness. "Ah ah ah … not yet." He whispered with a sickeningly wide grin before he surged forward, slicing the body of the once living creature in half. Before it could utter a sound its soul was sucked into the blade, making Grim almost drool in hunger for the tasty treats for his blade before easily consuming the others.

Once the deed was done he bit his thumb, drawing blood before wiping it against the back fabric flaps of the caravan. When pushed aside it revealed the room holding his crystal ball and not the inside of the caravan. He smiled and stepped through, restraining his true form with a small spell before he sat down before the ball again.

"Now then, what else is there?" He asked aloud, searching the lands before finding something unusual. "Ooh~ Mr. Inquisitor, you are getting too close too soon, I'm afraid. Go this way," Grim hummed, poking his finger through the crystal ball and gently poking the rocks on the side of the mountain; within moments a perilous cascade of mud and rocks fell in front of the path, blocking it entirely from the caravan not too far away back from the incident. "Not yet … we are not ready to face you yet." He smiled, searching the rest of the forest for any inconsistencies that needed to be handled.

"Ah~ Hans. You still don't realize your purpose here, there or anywhere! Such a delightfully mushy brained puppy." Grim darkly chuckled in his throat, gently tapping the outside of the ball. Humans could be such cruel and malicious creatures; most of the time. The image warped, revealing the Red Hood's deadened gaze. "Oh good, the creature reached her house!" Grim delightfully cried, leaning forward and pressing his fingertips into the orb to touch her heart and feel her grief for himself but resisted. Such a pure and delicious soul … it was so rare to find one so beautiful and warming in these times. And yet, what a perfect tool she made for the restoring this world. Grim let out a shaky exhale, holding the crystal ball firmly in his hands. Such a young and innocent soul; he knew the taste would be of the utmost quality. And yet that one moment of delight would be a waste for all the entertainment she could provide him. With a sighing smile he hugged the crystal ball to his chest, feeling her emitting warmth through the cold glass. Kind souls like these were always the most entertaining.

With a soft sigh he set the ball down, continuing his hunt around the forest. After a bit of searching he managed to spot the Huntress. "Oh ho ho~ my dear, what are you up to?" He hummed, finding nothing out of order with her actions for now. He studied her with a soft glow in his eyes, gently touching the orb and noticing how different her essence, or what remained of it, was. In fact, he couldn't even tap into it properly, but a creature not registered whose name had been banned from the records of existence was bound to be strange ... and that wasn't even the most curious thing about her. "I will enjoy the rest of eternity finding out this fun puzzle, don't I?" He chuckled. "Oh, you're such a delicious soul … I wonder if tomorrow I should propose a deal to you?" He hummed, thinking of the timing. "Timing is everything~ timing timing time time tiiime~," he playfully chanted to himself. With a grin he touched his fingertips to the orb and threw his hands up into the air, expanding his vision and laying out all of the pawns before him. The sight of all of them together made his spine tingle and breath shorten in excitement and glee, hardly able to contain himself. So much fun, so much fun-! Oh, oh thank Catrina is her name, her sweet, her lady, her dearest of them all for giving him a chance to carry out such a delightful plan!

"Oooh~ playing with such clueless pawns is so much fun! A small change here, a slight alteration here … oh, oh oh oh mortals are so entertaining!" He wildly laughed, hardly able to catch his breath in his excitement. He tightly grasped his chest, his breathing becoming haggard as he turned his gaze towards the players of this fine game connecting to a single delightful mortal. Such fun, such glee! His eyes passed over the pawns, settling over one in particular as his grin shakily grew wider. "Well, that pawn in particular isn't a mortal anymore … no more, not anymore! Ho ho ho, ha, ha HA!" He softly chuckle before breaking out into a loud cackling laughter. He could almost taste it; all of those souls will suffice his quota for quite sometime. Such delicious lives, such pleasure, such a wonderful time is to be had-!

From the nearby room a small ringer dinged, making his rampant laughter come to a sudden stop. The corners of his lips pulled up into a delightfully cheerful smile as he looked towards the kitchen. "Oh! The cookies are ready." He grinned, hopping up and cheerfully going to collect the goodies for the honored guest.

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The Huntress patiently waited up in the trees, watching the cave with an intense gaze. The werewolf was using this as his den. It had been hard to track. No normal hunter could have found it since this particular wolf was not only a lone wolf but also wisely avoided leaving tracks unless he was in his human form. And even so, he scarcely left tracks; so it had been easier to search out the remains of his preys.

She narrowed her eyes and checked the surroundings again, looking at the path the werewolf was more likely to travel. She had placed a bunch of traps, seals and decoys that would perhaps hit him or at least lead him right to other traps. And if they failed, it would leave the wolf directly to her.

Jumping onto her shoulder, the little fox named Kit leaned over to her and nuzzled her happily, thrumming his chest in delight in her presence. Huntress stared coldly at the fox for a few moments before gently petting him, watching as Kit nuzzled against her happily.

"Alright, if you want to help this time it's fine. Set up your illusions and prepare some more just in case." The Huntress spoke, crouching in her hidden spot and under the cover of the fox's illusions to lay in wait.

Some time later, a large white wolf trotted up to the cave to rest. Once inside, the huntress pulled a cord that detonated the silver bombs she had planted, which caused a cloud of expensive silver nitrate to form and fill the cave's entrance.

The white wolf quickly leapt out of the cave impossibly fast, blowing the current of air back towards him with the deadly silver gas following. The wolf's movements sprung more of the traps, unleashing deadly silver arrows at the wolf. As predicted it dodged the attacks with ease, turning his gas and letting the arrows pass harmlessly through the gaseous form before the wolf reformed, dodging as more and more silver arrows began to fire from their hidden places along with those that were illusions.

A fraction of a second later the fox's eyes glowed as more illusions of arrows appeared for the wolf in many direction, which disguised the fact that the real ballesta bolts with silver tips were directed at exactly the point where it had leapt to and managed to impale themselves on the wolf's shoulder.

The wolf shook from the impacts and then leapt back again, staring at the oncoming arrows for a second before leaping right through the illusion and redirecting its path right towards the Huntress. The wolf shifted into its human form, making Huntress's eyes widen in shock as the creature punched right through the thick branch with incredible strength as she jumped away. The Huntress leapt back and shot a barrage of bolts, forcing the werewolf to retreat behind a tree trunk to avoid the deadly projectiles.

Hmph … a pure blooded werewolf was nothing to scoff at, even in its weaker human form. The huntress quickly recharged her repetition ballesta while the fox created a few more illusions. Her next shots were not only as fast as the last ones, but they created small explosions of silver gas when they impacted near the wolf in human form. The wolf managed evade them while trying to close his distance, already breathing hard from the toxic silver gas but he drew near, narrowly punching Huntress's head off as she evaded the fist.

The huntress threw an upper kick to his chin and the wolf moved back while she threw her other leg up, slashing his chest with the dagger in her boots as she flipped back, trying to regain distance but he quickly closed the distance. She leaned down to avoid the punch and received a knee to her armored gut. The huntress then swiped her arm around to hit him in the head and shoot at point blank but he moved aside and she twisted to perform a round kick that sent her crashing straight into a tree.

She recovered and jump to the tree's branches, shooting more bolts to drive him away long enough for her to place her ballesta at her back so she could have her hands fre to fight on close range. The wolf's human form was more evasive than she would have imagined; this werewolf was well trained in the arts of fighting, something she did not expect. Most werewolves were loners and avoided people when possible but this one was well trained enough to be keeping up with her in skill and easily overpowering her.

After a new illusion that made the wolf pause, she jumped down to deal a hit with her silver spiked knuckles. The wolf managed to block her punch to the head with his arm that was bleeding now. The Huntress glared at the wolf, finding herself in a weak position and before she could put distance between them the wolf planted a powerful kick against her gut, a kick much stronger than the last one.

The air flew out of the Huntress's lungs as she flew back, rolling across the fresh snow of the ground as she gripped her gut, struggling to get her breath back and grab any of her close range bombs. As the wolf charged at the Huntress for the finishing blow, from out of the bushes a red headed teenager with fox ears and tail leapt in front of the werewolf and began fighting him, using his illusions to confuse the wolf. The fox managed to punch him a few times with little to no affect on the large wolf before the wolf grabbed his arm, breaking it under his grip and making Kit scream before the wolf punched Kit in the gut, sending him flying off before smacking into a large tree and lifelessly tumbling onto the ground.

"Kit!" The huntress spoke for the first time during this fight, looking at her familiar's body. Her eyes narrowed and she stood up, spitting up blood and as she reached for a holster at her hip, from which she took a revolver. Silver mixed with lead was fired. To her surprise the werewolf in human form, while still sporting the bolts on his flesh, swiftly became a wolf again and became myst, the bolts falling to the floor as the bullets passed right through him. He then materialized again with its blood red eyes glaring down at her with such a menacing intensity that it actually sent shivers down the trained hunter's spine. She had never come this close to death before; no beast had ever bested her. And she wasn't about to let today be the day she was bested either.

The Huntress's gun clicked, empty of bullets before the wolf leaned in to charge before the Huntress grabbed a bomb from her belt and tossed it right in front of her and in the way of the wolf. Another cloud of poisonous silver gas detonate, thicker than the previous ones as it created a barrier the wolf dared not enter unless it wanted its skin to melt and rot.

Under the cover of silver smoke she ran over to Kit, quickly grabbing him before pulling out a teleportation orb that would teleport them away from the deadly wolf. She had to make a strategic retreat for now. She crushed the orb and a mist came out from it, forming a sphere around her just as a loud echoing roar filled the forest.

As she began to disappear from the place, transported to another location, she saw the werewolf look away from her, intensely listening to the forest around him before turning back into a wolf and running towards the loud roar. The Huntress stared where the wolf disappeared as she too faded away, hardly able to believe it. All shifters were known to finish off prey no matter what the cost, and werewolves even more so. Whatever that roar was, it was something for her to be wary of.

The lights of the magic flashed as the ground shifted beneath her feet, making her adjust her stance before she appeared in another location of the forest well protected by ribbons forming a barrier around the trees by the witch's house.

"You stupid piece of fluff, don't you dare be dead." The huntress growled checking her familiar. He was alive, but barely. With extreme care she lift him into her arms and headed towards the house, all the while mumbling curses.

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In the middle of the room the witch was calmly knitting a very ugly and distorted scarf when his door was kicked down right off its hinges by a very angry looking Huntress.

"Eeek~!" Grim cheerfully squealed, dropping the scarf and causing a mistitch, "oh no, another mistitch! The worst of all stitches!" Grim cried, picking up the 'ruined' ugly scarf before looking over at the Huntress. Accepting the ruined ugly scarf, he pouted, "you could have just, you know~ knocked." The witch mentioned while looking at the very injured teenager with fluffy ears and fox tails that she was carrying in her arms. "Oh? Is that your pet? You don't seem like a very good owner." Grim mumbled, picking up a new ball of yarn and starting on a new scarf.

"HEAL HIM!" The huntress ordered with a demanding roar while looking towards the table of the living room. She quickly went towards the piece of furniture and while balancing on one leg she used the other to do swiping kick and throw away every single item on the table before setting the young fox over. She moved faster than the blink of an eye to remove the ugly intent of an scarf from the witch's hands in order to use it as a pillow that she placed under Kit's head. "Heal him already!" She ordered again.

"Why hello to you too, my dear! Did you have fun playing with the wolf?" He happily asked as Huntress growled.

"Master … ," the fox softly cried, whining in pain.

"Shut up Kit, you stupid so called familiar!" She grabbed a small vial from her bag, and forced its contents down the teen's throat, then she turned towards the witch. "Help him already, witch. This potion can't heal this much damage."

"So demanding! That's no way to treat an all powerful witch." Grim heavily sighed, flipping the needles of his knitting foward before stabbing the fox in the gut with them. The fox boy spasmed as Grim withdrew the needles, pulling out a silver bullet. At the sight of the fun ammo, he cheekily grinned, "oh ho~ it seems the Huntress failed at getting her target." He teased with a grin, tossing the bullet aside before removing the boy's shirt and examining his wounds. "How grisley. I wonder how much internal blood has been spilled?" He teasingly grinned.

"Too much." She growled and grabbed the piece of used ammunition from the witch's hand, looking at it with narrowed eyes full of raging anger before placing the silver bullet in her pocket. "He got kicked so hard his organs probably blew out. He's been bleeding all along, probably has many internal injuries. NOW HEAL HIM." She ordered again, looking down at the fox, approaching her hand but ultimately retreating it while forming a fist. "Don't you dare die, Kit, or I'll trap your spirit into some piece of jewelry that I'll carry around till the end of time." She threatened.

"You may have to make good on that promise." The witch cheerfully smiled, tapping his lower lip. "And what is in it for me if I help him? I'm not very interested in much you have to offer." The witch shrugged as Huntress shoved him aside and began digging through a shelf labeled as 'medical supplies' but only found the strangest combination of mushrooms, lizard tails and other such ingredients that would take hours to make.

"You have stronger potions, don't you? I need a full heal right away." She demanded, looking around and trying to locate the proper potion.

"No need to be so overdramatic! Why, if he weren't so fluffy I'm sure the wolfy would have finished him off." Grim cheerfully hummed, working his dark magic in carefully removing the obstructions in his body and speeding up the healing process, making the tissue knit itself back where needed and grow as necessary. "Oh!" He cried, making Huntress whip around in his direction quite tense, her eyes seemingly glowing for a second and her pupils shrinking into slits, which made the witch chuckle at her reaction. "I nearly forgot! Tea and cookies are in the kitchen if you want them." He cheerfully offered while stitching up a grisly gash in the kit's leg.

"Just heal him already!" She growled, irritated by the witch's flippant attitude.

"Ah~ fine, fine." The witch sighed, "but in return you need to do me a small favor." Grim smiled as he trotted over to the fox and began snapping his fingers, making ample amounts of medical supplies appear out of thin air as he began working on the small kit's injuries. "Now, are you also in need of my assistance, dear Huntress?" Grim asked with a cheerful smile.

The huntress blinked before looking down at herself, remembering she was hurt too. "No. I heal fast." She grabbed a chair and sat down near enough to see everything the witch was doing but far enough to let him space to act. She took a deep breath, already feeling his internal wounds healing and her flesh mending itself.

"Hm~ and that is an interesting story behind that, no?" Grim asked with a cheeky smile, waving his hands over Kit's body as he began healing him the kit's internal organs that had practically exploded from the wolf's impact. "As interesting as your name, job and title, no?"

"Perhaps." The Huntress answered, looking at her familiar and carefully noting the motions the witch made. She has met real witches before but this one was by far the most strange from his mannerisms to his spells. He was casting some of the most powerful spells she had ever seen before with such ease that it made her really wonder what kind of witch this hermit was. The huntress looked at the man's grinning face with wide eyes that still were glowing an unnatural color, examining him carefully while ignoring the carefully prepared tea and cookies offering. "You are far more than a common witch … or even an uncommon one, are you not?"

"You flatter me~," Grim cheerfully smiled, "oh! I can add new parts to your fox if you'd like. Would you like for him to have an extra set of limbs? Unlocking all of his powers so he has all of his fluffy tails? Or maybe multiple ears? Oh! Or an inner jaw like this?" Grim asked, opening his mouth before a smaller mouth jutted out, snapping at the air in Huntress's direction.

The Huntress wasn't fazed by the extra mouth. "The jaws of a morena? Interesting … ," she continued her scrutinizing staring, "for now just heal him." She looked down at her familiar but continued speaking to the witch. " … please." She looked up again, her eyes back to normal. "But if you can 'help' unlock more of his tails before he reaches 100 years old, then I'll listen to what you'd ask in return for that."

"Oh, will you? I quite appreciate it, but there isn't much you could do~ unless~~~ no, I don't think a little request like that is worth much to such a mighty human hunter." Grim teased with a snickering grin, dancing his hands playfully over the fox before clapping his hands together, finding the fox boy stable; more or less.

The Huntress fixed her gaze at the fox boy, her breathing slightly haggard but calming down upon seeing the fox not dying anymore. "I am the Huntress. If my prey comes I'll kill it. If it runs away I'll chase it and end it. I'll I hunt as long as the price is good enough." She then looked at witch in the eyes with a stern gaze that could intimidate any lesser creature or normal person. "I've seen far too many monsters. A good amount look human, deem themselves as such and live in towns and cities. Those are the worst and most dangerous. I rarely deal with them, the price is often not enough."

"Hmm~ yes, but what I have in mind doesn't involve killing … well, not direction. It may be too long term for your liking but it's the only thing valuable you could do for me." Grim mused with a hum, floating slightly into the air and lightly poking Kit's ear, watching it flicker. He giggled and kept poking the ear, watching it continuously flicker. "It will be … different, from whatever previous assignments you have had, I assure you." Grim purred, tugging on Kit's tails before gasping, seeing how fluffy and well brushed they were. With a snap of his fingers his invisibly magic flipped Kit over as Grim grabbed hold of his tails and pet them as lavishly as he wanted before hugging them. "Hmmm~ yes, more tails would be nice." He grinned.

She let out a deep breath and then looked at the witch with a stern gaze. "Now for the payment … you said you wanted me to perform some favor." The huntress let out a sigh. "You want me to hunt but not kill. It's a capture then." She crossed her arms. "Are you done with my fox?"

"And~ there! Mostly fixed up for now." Grim grinned cheerfully. "But he'll need more attention later. I just fixed the most immediate dangers. Call me when he wakes up." He took a step back and turned around. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to check on anomalies." He hummed, walking past her into the kitchen before grabbing his crystal ball. "Hmmm~ not quite that simple, my dear! Tell me, how is your smooth talking?" Grim asked, spinning the ball playfully around on the tip of his finger before it turned to a fluid liquid floating through the air, bouncing between the invisible forces before he melded it back into a crystal ball.

The Huntress nodded mindlessly while checking on Kit wheezing for air, at which she, quite delicately, turned him around so he was lying on his back again, breathing more easily. She let out a sigh of relief while starting to examine all his other wounds with great care.

"So~ missy Huntress Lord Fluff Of The Dominating Kind Dominating Lord Mistress Flufferton Snuffletonworth!" Grim called, carrying the ball into the living room before sitting on a nearby couch, setting the ball in his lap, "before I tell you my payment for fixing up your adorable foxy woxy ... why don't you tell me what happened? I assume that wolf gave you more trouble than you thought … yes? Unprepared? Ill placed traps? Please, do tell how your pet go so~ injured you had to resort to a beautiful, no, handsome witch such as myself to heal him, hm?" Grim asked while keeping his eyes on the crystal ball, moving his fingers around as though he were searching for something within its ball.

The woman growled. "My prey was far stronger than the information I had on it." She huffed. "I did prepare for something stronger than what I was told to hunt. But this creature is far more powerful than a normal werewolf. I suspect it was experimented on and heavily enhanced. Even for me it will be a very dangerous prey … after I kill the contractors that hid info from me."

"Hmmm~ not surprised there. You were lied to since the very beginning of your adorable little quest here." Grim giggled, "and you're wrong about the experimenting … somewhat. There weren't enhancements made to it … well, not that many physically, more so to the brain." He chuckled. "This werewolf is simply a delightful breed taken from so far up Northeast, humans haven't discovered the land yet." Grim teased with a grin. "His species is also almost extinct, I think."

"All shifters are rare. But this wolf … it's definitely not a common one." The huntress closed her eyes for a moment, collecting herself. "What I was told about the mut's brain is that he is so transparent that he is barely more than a simple beast with some basic instincts and almost no memories. A war dog and nothing more that somehow ran away from its owner." Grim sneakily grinned.

"Ah~ he would have been … if something in his last fight hadn't been broken~," Grim teasingly laughed, "but if you are to kill your contractor's, why continue hunting the beast at all?" Grim teased, continuing to dance his fingers across the crystal ball.

The Huntress placed a hand over Kit's head and carefully pet him. "He hurt my fox and now that he has deemed me as a threat, he'll try to kill me. So I'll kill it before he gets a chance to attempt to. Although I admit it will be hard. I'll need to set up a better trap next time."

"Hm~ or perhaps if you leave him alone, he too will leave you alone. As you've said, the puppy's mind is a bit mushy." Grim playfully grinned, poking his nails against the glass. "Or, you could ask for me help in the matter. If you'd like, maybe I can dance in the puppy's brain a bit … if you'd like." Grim asked with a big grin, "but if so, you have to accept my payment." He teased.

"Accept your payment?" She rose an eyebrow and looked at the witch. "Even if the mut's brain is mush he still has the instincts of a shifter, and they are quite ... obsessive. I tried to kill it, so it's only natural to him to try and kill me now. In any case, what do you want to hire me for?"

The witch cheerfully smiled. "There is someone that I want you to deliver to me safe and sound." He asked with a smile practically bursting with excitement.

"You want me to bring you the red hood?" She rose an eyebrow.

"Oh no, this has nothing to do with that darling girl. As you can see, I am a witch, sadly, without a familiar. You have no idea how embarrassing it is when I see other witches with their familiars but have none to have for my own! Even you have a familiar, sort of." He dramatically frowned and placed the back of his hand to his head, sadly sighing. "So! I want you to bring me a familiar." He said, snapping his fingers and making a large crystal ball appear in his hands. He began running his fingers through the orb, staring at it before pausing. "Ooh~ they got to the town faster than I thought. I bet they worked that little crow to his bones clearing the way." The witch cackled excitedly, blushing as he stared at the orb and began breathing faster, softly groaning with impatient greedy need. Looking at the witch now, he almost looked like an impatient toddler.

"Be clear, witch." The huntress crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Ooooh-! I get so excited just thinking about it! My very own familiar, I simply can't wait! And to have such a rare and delightful species as this, it is almost too beautiful and perfect! Oh, oh I just can't wait!" Grim excitedly shrieked, before pushing the orb towards her, showing her a scene currently happening in the town; a large band of wagons parked in front of town square with what looked like to be a common muzzled vampire sitting inside of one of the wagons with chains around his neck, wrists and feet. She stared at the orb, observing the scene with interest before Grim pulled the view back a little bit so she could see the crest and read the name on the side of the wagon;

Order of the Silver Cross

The Huntress groaned. "A fucking inquisitor." She pinched the brick of her nose in annoyance as she saw them head for a meeting with the mayor. "Fuck, and from that fanatical order."

"Oooh~? Do you know them?" Grim asked with a cheeky smile, snapping his fingers and making the orb vanish. "It's been quite a long time since the towns decided to hire an Inquisitor just for me; I wonder if they will also try to pawn the werewolf off to them." Grim wondered allowed, poking his lower lip with a fingernail in thought.

"They better not, that's my speciality, not an inquisitor's." She grumbled "Although I wouldn't put it past them. This order in particular is quite accepting when it comes to any and all targets. Unlike other orders, the Silver Cross do go monster hunting occasionally too."

"Well, just get that adorable little crow they have locked up in there to come here and I will consider the debt repaid. And, if you would like, I would love to hire your expertise should your contract with the maggots of the town evaporate." Grim said with a cheerful smile. "I'll have you know I will pay you in more useful ways than useless currency." He grinned. "And don't worry about your pet. You can leave him here to recover while you go get me that birdie. I give you my word that he is going to be safe and sound here while in my home." He grinned.

The Huntress stood up and cracked her neck. "Fine. Although by the measures they are taking to keep it in check it seems that's not a bird but a common vampire." She suggested with a shrug, keeping an eye on the witch.

Grim pulled away from her, looking appalled. "No, of course not! How could you say something so crass? That specimen is hands down one of the most beautiful familiars out there in the world, certainly rarer than your little fox!" Grim adamantly argued with his eyes shining brightly in excitement.

The huntress refrained from rolling her eyes. "I'll go back to town now. You wouldn't happen to have a teleport rock or something to get me near there, do you?"

"Of course I do. Here you are." He said, walking over to the back door of his home before closing it, waiting a moment before opening the door once again, opening it just in view of the large trunk barrier the town had around its borders, surprising the Huntress with the mastery he had over his spells. No ordinary witch could cut up and stitch together space without being well over hundreds of years old. "Go on, then. Just come back through this door when you want to come back here." He cheerfully smiled.

The Huntress stepped through the portal, shutting the door before opening it again to verify the spell was working. Once ensuring it did indeed still work, she crossed, now considering what kind of stuff the witch could pay her with if she decided to work for him for a little while. She needed to pay her debt and make sure the villagers didn't do anything stupid, and then of course there was still the issue of the wolf.

Heading towards the entrance of the town, she climbed up and jumped over the barrier, immediately heading towards the city hall. She needed to figure out the state of her contract since the sneaky weasels in Silver Cross might try to take her kill from her.

Upon reaching city hall she glared at the many wagons parked out front, ignoring the vulgar and inexperienced hunters of the Silver Cross, which surprised her. She could tell just by looking at them that they weren't prepared to handle any witch let alone Grim Reaper.

Huntress entered the building, stepping right past the supposed guards before throwing open the door of the mayor's office, glaring at the pig-like mayor as he sat smug in his chair with an experienced silver haired man sitting across from him.

"Ah, well if it isn't the mighty Huntress! I have heard many stories about you." The older gentleman cheerfully smiled, standing up to greet her.

The Huntress smiled and shook his hand. "Indeed it is me. Although I've got to say I'm equally surprised at seeing the silver cross or any order so far away from the nearest capital."

"We are wherever there are witches to hunt." He answered with a shrug.

"Of course." She nodded. "That's the work of an Inquisitor, and the witch around here has become known to more than this town it seems." She shrugged. "And witches are out of my line of job."

"Yes it is. But I heard you've been having quite the trouble with a werewolf around these parts?" He asked with a smile. "Witches and werewolves occupying the same territory is quite the strange thing, wouldn't you say, Huntress?"

"I'm yet to find trouble since I barely arrived a couple days ago to scout the terrain and the situation, however I've detected the werewolf is a real one, and a pure one at that." She confirmed. "And although normally such situation is indeed strange, the wolf has been here for only so long it seems, so it most likely hasn't encountered the witch yet."

"Then why haven't we seen any results?" The mayor stepped in with a frown towards the Huntress. "I want that wolf gone before the dead of winter sets in but you have not so much as shown proof you are on that wretch's trail." The mayor huffed, clearly annoyed and eager to discredit the Huntress.

"Now now, hunting werewolves is a patience game. Move too early and the wolf will have you in its jaws." The man said with a throaty chuckle.

"Well said. And more so with a pure blooded beast." The Huntress didn't bother to look at the mayor, focusing her gaze at the inquisidor. "I got to say too that the caged carriage you have with you seems a bit off. Since I'm taking the job offer from this town I ought to know if there's anything in there that may pose a threat. Most orders wouldn't keep any dangerous creature or witch alive."

"Oh, that? There is nothing dangerous in there at all; the only thing there is my vampire slave." He proudly smiled. "I managed to find him young and tame him." He explained. "He is now a full fledged witch hunter and works beneath myself and the others."

"Y-You brought a vampire, here, to this town?!" The mayor shouted, looking mortified.

"A tamed vampire?" The Huntress rose an eyebrow. "That's quite a feat. How do you control it?"

"Just as you would tame any animal from a young age; positive and negative reinforcement. Would you care to meet him?" He asked, seeming eager to show off his work.

"Of course I would like to. Keeping such a creature in check is praiseworthy after all." She grinned before they both went outside, along with a hesitant mayor following after them.

The elderly man stepped in front of the wagon which was caged off, hiding its contents to the world before he opened the door to reveal a rather poorly dressed man in chains, looking exactly like the image the witch had shown the Huntress.

The creature turned its blood red eyes up, making the mayor scream in fright before he quickly backed up, his legs shaking horrendously. "I-I-I don't want that thing anywhere near here! We already have enough trouble as it is with that witch and werewolf!" The mayor cried but his complaints went well ignored.

"Come into the light, Seeta," the elderly man smiled, waving his hand forward before switching a lever on the wall, making the chains unlatch from around the creature's neck and wrists. Its skin was a particular darker tint native to the lands far across the sea to the east and its hair was a dark black braided into a long ropey strand which easily reached its knees in length. His hands, well noted, seemed mildly injured with scraps and cuts, caked with mud of unknown origin.

The nearly emancipated looking creature walked forward into the light and out of the wagon, keeping its eyes fixed on the elderly man in a very obedient fashion. The Huntress raised her brow, observing just how thin and weak the creature looked but its presence was certainly something she had never felt before; even its scent was different from a vampire's. The witch was right; this was no vampire at all.

"As you can see, I have perfect control over this vampire. I do hope to train more into service but he is the only one so far with enough self control to not wreak havoc wherever we go. He is quite the fascinating specimen." The elderly man proudly presented as the younger members of the order focused their guns on the creature, not letting him so much as breathe without one of them twitching their fingers towards the trigger.

"And where did you find this vampire?" Huntress asked, curious.

"Over the seas back far east. We were traveling to rid the world of the wretched scum of the terrible East when we stumbled across a young boy who was a vampire; he was very strange, however. There were no signs of vampires anywhere near the city and yet there was one residing deep beneath the streets in the tunnels below. Seeing as this vampire exhibited some strange self control, we decided to capture him and train him to be used; and as such, he is forever our slave in our control. Happily, of course." The elderly man smiled before reaching around the supposed vampire's head, pulling off the muzzle around its face.

The creature let out a sigh of relief, getting some fresh air before turning to the elderly man and smiling. "Thank you, master." He smiled gently with his lips pressed together to hide whatever kind of fangs he hid.

"Not a problem. How did hunting go earlier?" The elderly man asked with a smile, "since I do not see the wolf's head with you, I can assume it went poorly?"

"Yes but I managed to shoot them both before they fled. They were quite fast; I lost track of them." The emancipated man answered with a soft sheepish smile. "Please forgive me, master. I am unworthy of your presence."

"You're right about that. Go prepare the rooms for us in the inns as we like it." The elderly man ordered while gesturing towards the wagons.

"But of course." The supposed vampire answered with a smile, turning away to get to work while the younger hunters kept a wary eye on the creature.

"Wait … both?" The huntress narrowed her eyes looking at the 'vampire', which certainly didn't look like any of the vampires she had met before.

"What is wrong? Were you not hunting 2 were creatures?" The elderly man asked with a bit of a snarky smile.

"There weren't 2 shifters this morning … unless." She then remembered the roar she had heard earlier, now remembering what kind of creature produced such sound. A were-tiger.

"Is something the matter, Huntress?" The elderly man asked with a smile.

The huntress ignored the man, thinking deeply about someone from her past. And what such a roar could mean. She tried to shove the memories to the back of her mind, but she couldn't do so entirely.

"I-Incredible … that you are able to control a creature like that." The mayor spoke, watching in shock as the 'vampire' carried the items into the inn to begin setting up the rooms. "I-If you could tame a vampire like that, then surely you could kill that werewolf in no time!" The mayor said with his eyes glowing excitedly.

"But of course. We will be able to handle both the witch and werewolf without any problems if you would like." The elderly man smiled.

"You want to claim my prey?" The huntress narrowed her eyes and looked straight at the inquisidor.

"Oh? Your prey?" The elderly man asked, keeping his smile up. "I have no intention on taking your prey but every intention on ridding the monster as fast as possible so these poor people will no longer have to suffer casualties at the claws of the monster." The man simply shrugged. "It doesn't matter who does the job; what matters are the lives we save." He smiled.

"Then perhaps you should stay for the witch. That is your speciality. I'll stick to hunting the wolf, so we can end the threats faster. I have taken this contract, therefore I've taken this responsibility. As you know my reputation, I work alone in this business."

"Any monster that threatens the lives of humans are our specialty." The man smiled. "Werewolves included. There is no need to get hostile over prey; it's simple, really. I see no harm in us working together to kill the werewolf." He suggested.

"I work alone. You should have known of my reputation." The huntress crossed her arms, serious but still polite enough.

"Then whoever kills the werewolf faster gets the reward." He smiled with a shrug.

"Is it then that a man of faith is slaying this monster for a ransom?" She smiled "Or perhaps the town wants to save money by pitting us against one another?" The Huntress remained calm, considering to ask the witch about his job offer to ponder it. Although once she took a job she always carried it on, she didn't have any loyalty for those who tried to break their deals with her.

"The reward simply goes to whoever kills the beast and frees the towns from its tyranny. Besides, we are being rewarded much less money than your overpriced attempts to suck the villages dry of precious resources needed to get them through the winter." The elderly man explained. "I must admit, I am shocked you are doing this for so much money. Aren't you better off elsewhere making money from those who can afford your service?"

She let out a sigh. "It seems they have fooled you somewhat in that regard as they have fooled most of the village itself." She gave a small side glance at the mayor whom quickly looked away with a fake cough. "My services are what they are and I'm not charging them any more or any less than what the service entrails. Be it a baron or be it a peasant, I hunt if they pay. They paid for more than the wolf. I have already ended thrills and ghouls in the vicinity. The wolf is already poisoned and weakened, it's only a matter of small time. Witches are not beasts of the sort I hunt, and not in my other monsters may as well be."

"Then consider the contract void!" The mayor blurted out angrily. "You are no longer needed, Miss huntress. You have failed to hunt that damn werewolf and are leisurely wasting our time with your slothfulness. Go and suck the money out of some other poor village with your greedy, monstrous hands!" The mayor suddenly snapped, huffing with his face flushed red with anger. "I was right to doubt you, you are nothing but a pitiful woman trying to do a man's job and swindle the money from hard working peasants!" He announced, loud enough for other townsfolk to listen.

The man from the Silver Cross simply laughed, casting the mayor a glance of disbelief while at the same time finding his announcement to be quite hilarious.

The Huntress looked at the mayor and rose an eyebrow, she then began laughing too.

"No man, woman or child in 10 villages around can hunt a kikimora. The Duke's army of the west had trouble with a mere griffin and the Prince himself has hired me on more than one occasion to deal with the monsters the army is too busy for. And you think that you can deal with a pure blooded werewolf? Or from the draco-lizards on the swamp? The Archespors of the hills? The Arachasea in the forest?" The Huntress asked, all while laughing quite hard.

"Well, it is clear we are unable to fund your more than expensive, frivolous tastes. And so, I relieve you of your job of hunting that werewolf." The mayor said with his voice slightly shaking, clearly quite nervous.

"Very well." She chuckled. "I'll just collect my payment from all the creatures I've already freed you from and then I'll head on my way. After all, the city of Lancher at the west was having some troubles with an Ice giant." She then turned towards the inquisidor. "It was nice seeing a capable inquisitor for once. Your taming of such a pet speaks for itself about your dedication and skills. I wish thee good luck on your hunt, although … well, only those who truly desire and pay for their salvation may deserve it." She eyed the mayor and made a small pause set. "As a professional courtesy, I could show you the way to the witch's territory. I was going to see to it myself but it seems that while I was fighting dangers my services were not considered necessary anymore."

"Wait." A voice called out, sounding quite irritated. "You bumbling moron." The Judge huffed, glaring at the weak man before turning to the Huntress. "Huntress! While I agree with the Mayor in hiring the Silver Cross for the werewolf and witch, might I suggest offering another contract in place of the one broken? This way you can still earn as much money as we offered you before the contract was broken." The Judge offered, walking over to her.

"Oh? Seems like there might be someone with sense for survival after all." She chuckled before focusing her harsh and sharp gaze on the man. "Speak well and fast. What is it that you propose?"

"That we pay you per corpse of dangerous creatures lying about the nearby woods rather than for the werewolf. That much we could dare to afford of your services." The Judge spoke curtly.

The Huntress remained silent for some seconds. "Very well, I'll take your offer as soon as you pay me for the creatures I've already slayed. I brought in the corpses already and you saw them, even used them for materials."

"But of course. Come with me, Huntress, and I will pay you your current due." He said, walking back into the city hall as the Mayor remained speechless, not daring to speak a word.

"I look forward to your support in our hunt, Huntress." The elderly man from Silver Cross smiled cheerfully.

The huntress returned a small smile. "Likewise, Mr. Inquisitor. I'll also look forward to seeing your pet in action."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWWMWMWMWMWMMWMWWMWMWMWMW

Not but a few hours later, the huntress entered the witch's house, seeing the door open and thus entering right away. "Witch, I've come to nego..!" She stopped in her words and jumped sideways, quickly unshielding a couple silver blades from the holsters at the sides of her long boots. In the middle of the living room was the werewolf in human form, laying on a couch with the witch attending it's wounds, but more worrisome, was that the wolf was holding her pet fox as if Kit was some stuffed toy.

"Oh don't worry, little Huntress! Your pet is fine and all is safe." Grim smiled as he patted the werewolf's shoulder, checking his wounds as the werewolf let out a small sigh and turned his head against the couch to sleep, exposing his neck - he was clearly not threatened in any by the Huntress's presence.

As Hans's arms loosened a bit, Kit tried making a desperate lunge for his master but Hans tightened his grip, keeping the kit against his chest as he half-slept.

"What's the meaning of this witch? That one is MY prey." The huntress growled, still ready for a fight, looking at the room for how she could use the close quarters at her advantage, slowly reaching for one of the explosive orbs at her belt. "It took quite the effort to poison it. And make him release MY fox too now."

"Ah~ I'm sorry, Huntress, but this is neutral territory. How about I pay you for him? Your poison was incredibly effective, it took even me quite some effort to remove it." Grim asked before snapping his fingers, filling the entire room with a sudden flood of gold coins. The force of the moving metal pushed Huntress back as her eyes burst open, looking around at the amount of money that was up to her hips filling the entire room. "Will this be enough to suffice for your services? Of course this is just the deposit." Grim smiled.

"For this werewolf and the poison?" The woman moved her hand from the orb to the gold to check it was real and it was very real; excellent quality. "Yes. It will be enough." The huntress kept her serious expression. "I have a magic vault." She then took a small purse from deep in her jacket and opened it, the gold began being sucked in it. "Now make that wolf release my fox."

"Hm hm hmm~ yes I will, but first I would love to negotiate with you I happen to be in need of your excellent skills." Grim smiled happily.

"Oh? Very well, we shall negotiate. Once my pet is free and gathering the rest of the coins on the floor." She then went to sit near the table, away from the werewolf but showing she wasn't up for starting a fight anymore.

"Very well." Grim smiled, snapping his fingers and making a startled Kit appear in his hand. Kit remained frozen, trembling and slightly traumatized. "There we are. Now, are you ready?" Grim asked, walking over and setting Kit down onto the table in front of her, the fox immediately rushing behind her legs

The huntress briefly grabbed her fox to cuddle it for a moment before setting it down and giving him her purse. "Kit, grab all the remaining coins in the floor." She then addressed the witch, still keeping the werewolf in her sights. "I'm willing to consider your offer, witch. What do you want me to hunt?"

Kit shakily nodded, stumbling off the table and leaping onto the floor as he began collecting the rest of the coins and putting them into the purse Huntress had.

"Well! First I would like to gain your interest so let us talk about your payment." Grim smiled as the room warped into a massive storage room, showing all of Grim's fine wares. Huntress's eyes slightly widened, not revealing that she was getting extremely giddy and excited over all of the extremely rare items within her grasp. There were many magic weapons,shields and clothes, wonderful objects of lore, enchanted gems and jewelry, old magic tomes and grimoires, papyruses and carved statues and stones of many types and from many lands. This was a cave of wonders of legends told, with items worth far more than a mountain of mere gold.

"You are mentioning a very generous payment, witch. But you have not mentioned what it's supposed to pay for. You already paid me for this wolf." She nodded toward the werewolf, that somehow was still on a coach inside the vault along them. "As such I will not hunt him anymore, so what else are you really willing to pay so generously for?"

"For the girl." Grim simply answered with a smile.

"A girl?" The huntress was bewildered if not confused. "You want me to hunt a girl?" She crossed her arms. "A profetized virgin or someone of an old bloodline required for a great ritual, no doubt?" She smiled sideway. "And some of this … ," she signaled around " … would be payment? Do I need to rescue her from a horde of dragons across the mountains of despair? Is she hidden inside some illusion at the swamp of despair? Or perhaps must I cross the desserts of the far east to infiltrate some forbidden kingdom to bring her here before the next blue moon?" The huntress's smile turned mocking as she crossed her legs and leaned her chin over the back on her hand, resting her elbow on the table. "Or is the hunt even harder than finding the unicorns lost at sea?"

"No; just the girl." He smiled. "I want her safe until the time is right. The villagers are growing too hostile towards her and I can only protect my adorable little protege so much while out here in the woods. I'm sure you are smart enough to figure out which girl I am speaking of." Grim smiled.

The huntress blinked, not understanding. "Explain yourself, witch."

"Awe~ I thought you'd be smart enough! The girl with the dual colored eyes, the only girl who comes to visit me bringing me tribute from the nearby villages, the girl who's mother's throat was ripped out by the vicious werewolf, the girl engaged to Badrick, the girl who has been brave enough to accept my offer of learning alchemy and magic. Surely you know her by now, hm?" Grim smirked.

"The Red Hood?" The Huntress remained stoic at least in appearance.

"Yes, the very one." Grim smiled.

The Huntress made a small huff. But she comprehended this in part. Not everyone would accept to become a witch's apprentice, and not everyone who wanted so had a talent or even potential for it, much less in these lands so fearful of different or non-human like creatures. This was a powerful witch and if he said that he had made the offer. Witches, like some other creatures, couldn't lie, binded as they were to the power of words and magic formulas, so if he had offered the girl to become his apprentice, then there was a reason behind it. And the reason was powerful enough for him to offer such a generous payment … and such obviously hid something. "What exactly out of all of these are you offering as payment? Do you merely want me to keep her safe for some time? For how long then? Or to bring her to you before the inquisitor learns of her alliance with you?"

"I only wish for her to continue her current lifestyle without interruption. As for your payment, you may choose 10 items as your payment. Any items here are free to become yours, and once you have chosen them I will lift any negative curses from them so you may use them unopposed." Grim smiled. "And of course, you will receive bonuses when I deem them necessary, of the which I will also lift the negative curses so you may use them according to your pleasure."

"For how long?" The huntress narrowed her eyes. This seemed too good to be true.

"Until the time is right. So perhaps it will be 2 months or maybe 10 years. It could be one week from now to 1 year later perhaps. I'm still not sure myself." Grim smiled.

The huntress closed her eyes for a second to ponder it. She needed to stay around for a bit to check the area for her real prey and see what was up with this werewolf, so as it wouldn't be too troubling for a little while, at least until she found the real trail of those vampires and their influence in the region. Once she found that she could go on with her vengeance and then help out the prince a little more, of course, getting a nice reward in the process. As long as she didn't bind herself it all would be fine.

"Let's speak of payment by month then, and I keep the right to terminate the contract in the future." She musked. "Are you still willing to hire me? Or would you like me to hunt anything that threatens the girl then? I'm afraid that towns would be empty soon in that case."

"Hm~ alright. Month by month then. But under no circumstances, Huntress," Grim started, narrowing his eyes coolly as his presence flickered, revealing his true form for a split second, "should the girl be killed. Do you understand me?" He smiled happily.

The huntress stop up in a jump, tossed her chair behind, her eyes wide with utter surprise as she stumble done step back, grabbing the table to help herself. "YOU! DEATH! GRIM REAPER! THE FIRST RIDER! Y-YOU..!"

"Oh? Oh ho! You recognized me after all this time! It's been a long while, isn't it?" Grim loudly laughed with a bright grin. "I'm so happy that someone finally noticed. I only made it so obvious by keeping the surname Grim." He grinned mischievously. "Hmmm~ this does put a bit of a stickler in things but I suppose it doesn't matter. I didn't think you'd recognize me. I only wanted to intimidate you a bit." He chuckled.

"You took me out of that place … ," she growled. "Why aren't I dead yet?"

"Indeed I did." Grim smiled. "It's one of the reasons I am now stuck here. Oh well~ while death is fun and eternal, life is so much more fun to play with in the mortal realm." He chuckled.

"I should have died then, I should died a thousand times already. Why aren't I? SPEAK NOW, BY THE ANCIENT PACK OF MY BLOOD AND MY LAND WITH DEATH ITSELF!" She demanded, slamming her first on the table and looking ready to jump at his throat.

"Well, it was because what you did was so terrible that it erased your name from the book … even if it wasn't on purpose it happened." He casually shrugged. "But you've definitely been playing with your immortality quite a lot since then." Grim smiled with a cool gaze. "Your purpose is not yet fulfilled, Huntress, if there is any purpose at all. Which is why you cannot die, but it's the reason why I can't interfere either. After all, I let it happen."

She stumbled back on her seat, breathing hard and looking at him with a vacant expression. "So I can't end it … " she chuckled once, then twice and then she laughed hard, so hard that even the werewolf looked at her for a second. Then she stopped and stood up. "That only assures I'll be able to reach my revenge as time is not against me."

"Oooh~ do tell. Our objectives might be closer than you think." Grim hummed.

"You know what happened there and then. You saw it all. And let it happen until the end. You did not interfere." She smiled, licking her lips. "I do not blame you. You could not intervene with the living but once a year and during that date. You may have wanted to see the result of what my dearest one did. It doesn't matter. It happened and I will search, find and destroy every single strain of those who caused his death and the death of my … well, you already know." She turned serious for a moment, her eyes shining with burning hatred and thirsting for revenge. "You are vulnerable in some way now too, aren't you? Don't get in my way, reaper. And I'll accept your deal for now."

"Excellent! Well then, you may have access to my fun toys in order to do so. My fate is also intertwined yours, Huntress. That incident links us so. But right now let's focus on those you hunt. We have the same interests, and in order to see those interests to the end, the girl cannot be allowed to die." Grim smile. "Neither can the wolf, or your little foxy friend. Everyone plays a role in this … and yours is one of the most fun ones." He smirked. "Oh, and please, try to not devour any more souls of the living preys you hunt. Such crime is already hefty enough."

"I'm already damned. I'll do as I need." The huntress stood up again and looked around. "Now … which trinket should I choose first?"

"Choose 1 as payment and then you can use the others as needed. Next month you may choose another one." Grim smiled. "Beware, there are some that have ancient curses that even don't fully know until they are cast upon."

The huntress began checking on the grimoires first, as they potentially held much knowledge that she could profit from, and as she revised the items around her, her fox also looked around, noticing the gleaming jewelry rack.

Kit walked forward, still carrying the purse on his mouth as he sniffed towards a bunch of jewelry placed in a vertical pane of velvet fabric. He sat on his haunches and began reading the small labels on the items. There was a golden ring of fortitude, an emerald jeweled necklace of wisdom, a bracelet with rubies that supposedly held fire … but some delicate golden earrings with the form of cats caught his attention. They merely said to grand feline,speed, agility and endurance. Curiously, all items did held different and unnatural scents. The fortitude ring smelled like stones in a mountain, the emerald necklace smelled like books, the ruby bracelet smelled like ashes, but the cat earrings smelled … not exactly like a cat; since he couldn't place the scent he approached to sniff them up close, and when he accidentally touched them, they fell to the ground.

"Oh nice choice!" Grim laughed as the items vanished from Huntress's sight.

"What?!" The huntress turned around in confusion, finding herself again in the house.

"I must say I am surprised you let your familiar choose your first reward but I think he chose nicely, don't you?" He smiled, handing her a pair of cat earrings. "Oh, and one more thing, please call me just Grim or keep saying I'm a witch. Let's not ruin the surprise for everyone else."

"Kit!?" The huntress looked at the earrings and then at the fox, who dropped her purse and paled before turning around and running out of the house.

"KIT! COME BACK HERE YOU DAMN PIECE OF FUR! I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU MYSELF!" The huntress grabbed her purse as she dashed behind her familiar with the earrings in hand, placing them on her ears just so she could have her hands free to put her purse away and then grab her ballesta from her back, aiming it at the little fox that ran as fast as he could into the forest.

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PEEKO: x-x

Chaos-Dark-Lord : Yes, we are still writing this and other ones.-


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